Get your hands on our August issue from this Friday!

Our dreamy August issue goes on sale on Friday 3rd of July, so don't miss out by ordering your copy with free UK p&p from our shop or download your instant copy from pocketmags!

In this month's issue you'll find...

• Trish Latimer's Shaving Foam Backgrounds where she shows you how to experiment with shaving foam to finish with surprisingly creative results
• Jenny Marples' Dragonfly Canvas where she explains how to create gorgeously distressed collages
• Gelli Plate Inking, where Helen Chilton develops beautifully subtle layers of pattern and colour using Gelli Plate printing
• Brightly Distressed!, where Hels Sheridan encourages you to really go for it and be bright and bold when using colour! 
• Sue Wherry's Mermaid in a Bottle, where she shows you how to create your very own mystical mermaid in a bottle to capture that faraway land 

• Christine Dark's Lantern Bunting where she helps you prepare your garden for a gorgeous summer party with brightly coloured oriental lantern bunting
• Clean Colour, where Joanne Allison teaches you how to create slick and clever designs with the aid of her professional tips
• Mixed Media Templates, where Kim Costello shows you how to use Mixed Media Templates to produce stunning portrait designs
• And finally Kay Carley's A Change of Scene where she explains how to use Perfect Partner scenic stamp set and dies by Sheena Douglass to produce beautiful countryside scenes that you wish you could visit!

So with a quick round up of the projects in this month's issue and a little sneak peek at the details we know you'll be running to the shops this Friday to grab your copy! You should be able to find a copy in all good craft stores across the UK or if you want yours instantly then you can download a copy from Pocketmags! If you want to make sure you never miss a copy then you can also call our friendly Customer Service team on 01684 588599 and subscribe! Happy stamping all!

Kim Costello Bonus Blog Projects!

Hello all the Craft Stamper Subscribers out there!

The official On Sale date for the August issue is July 3rd..... so you will need to check back here just before then to see the wonderful bonus projects by Kim!
There are two... one will go live 9am Thursday 2nd, the other 9am Saturday 4th.....

See you then!

Submissions wanted for our January and February issues!

We are looking for submissions for our Ready, Set, Stamp feature on the following theme for our January or February  issues of Craft Stamper. If you've always wanted to see YOUR card in print, now is your chance!!

You may enter cards for both, or just one of the themes mentioned!

· Please email your submissions to cs@traplet.com

· Please put 'Ready Set Stamp' followed by the theme in the subject line

· Please note that due to the number of submissions it's not possible to contact every entrant individually - if you have not heard from us within one week, your submission has not been successful. Please try again with a different card!

Guidelines:

· Please make cards only for this gallery.
 . Please do not use stamps that are discontinued for this article. Also please only use stamps that are available to buy in the UK (the exception is stamps from advertisers e.g. Art Journey, De Stempelwinkel).
. We do not accept cards created with digital stamps ONLY for this feature. Digital stamps MUST be used in conjunction with real stamping to qualify.

· Cards which are selected need to be posted to the Craft Stamper offices in the UK.

· This call IS open internationally.

· Note that we do choose artwork as it arrives, so please don't wait until the last minute to submit if your cards are ready.

· Cards will be returned at our expense, along with a complimentary copy of the magazine in which your card features. Note this can take approx. three months.

· Please follow both the theme AND the colour scheme when creating your cards. You can add black, white and metallics to any of the schemes. The ideas given are simply that, ideas, and do not have to be followed to the letter!

· Text for this article is required (don't worry - it is short!) and should be entered into the document provided – this will be sent to you if you are selected.

Deadlines: 
 Last day to send cards for the JANUARY gallery is: 22nd September 2015
 Last day to send cards for the FEBRUARY gallery is: 20th October 2015
Entries received after these dates cannot be considered for publication.

We look forward to seeing all of your beautiful designs!

Take It Make It Challenge : June Winners

Hello!
It's Winners time!

What a fabulous response to our June 'Take A Technique: Texture' challenge!

You lot are all so talented, we just loved looking through all the entries!

So...on to the important stuff, the winners!

As you will remember, from now on we will have TWO winners from each challenge, the Design Winner and the randomly selected Prize Winner. First up, I am thrilled to announce our Design Winner..

Entry Number 68: Samantha

 Congratulations Samantha! That card is lovely, so many textures. We really liked the black chunky glitter on the butterflies! Gorgeous! Samantha will win a Guest Designer slot, a Winners Profile and of course her gorgeous project will be published in Craft Stamper Magazine.

As always, we have the remaining two slots in our Design Top Three to reveal, they are in no particular order :)

Entry Number 29: Susanne

Entry Number 31: Karen

Congrats ladies! 

Next...the randomly selected Prize Winner! This winner will be the lucky recipient of the prize provided by out wonderful sponsor, 

Rubber Dance Art Stamps!

The prize is...............

 The randomly drawn winner is:

Entry number 91: Lydia

Congratulations Lydia! I think you'll have a lot of fun choosing your prize!

Now the important bit!

  Winners, you need to need to get in touch with me in order to claim your prize! 
Please email me at: cs@traplet.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.

Please check back next Friday for the launch of our July Challenge!

Take It Make It 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 May 2015 challenge is

 Georgie Connelly

From: www.littlebluecraftbox.blogspot.co.uk

Georgie won the challenge with this fabulous canvas, we thought the shabby chic, vintage look of this piece was amazing!

We asked Georgie 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: I’d say I have been using stamps in some form or another for about a year and a half, maybe a tad longer. Started off as trying to use them as focal points, or sentiments. Then progressed into background ‘messy’ stamping. I think that is where I have the most fun and feels more like me!

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

A: I love background stamps! You can create amazing patterns and build up depth to a piece, I find this can really be the difference between a project succeeding or not. Everything you create turns out different each time and it’s just so much fun watching the shapes emerge. Favourite makes include, Prima, Tim Holtz, Bo Bunny… the list could go on but they’re top 3 right now. However, I also enjoy quirky stamps like JoFY from PaperArtsy.

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

A: Messy!! I am definitely a messy stamper, but I do cross over to the clean and simple side from time to time, it’s refreshing to switch it up. But messy is where I feel more relaxed as the outcome, by it’s very nature, doesn’t have to be perfect. So suits me perfectly!

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

A: Hmmm, this is a tricky question! I think it changes, like favourite colours do, at the moment scrapping photos with messy backgrounds is addictive and following the creativity to see where it leads but I also love art journalling and making mini canvases. With art journalling, it’s just an open zone for experimenting, especially with new products and that is always fun!

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

A: After a lot of careful consideration (this is another toughie), there are two, I think it would be Glossy Accents by Ranger and gesso. Granted it’s not very exciting but they are so versatile. Accents, not just for sticking, which it is pretty darn good at, but for creating resists, adding glossy dimension/highlights or filling a gap to give a window effect. I always have one on the go and a back up. Gesso, because it can hide a multitude of sins and completely turn a project around if it’s heading in the wrong direction. Again, this is always close by.

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

Thankful For Life – Scrapbook

"I guess I’m most proud of one of my latest creations. A layout of my son. This involved a lot of background stamping to build up a moody layer beneath the photo to create depth and interest. I used two of the small stamps by Finnabair (Prima), Doily and Messy, and one from her Tea on the Deck set. I also used the doily one around the edges to to add a little more moodiness and frame the layout" - Georgie 

I Dream In Colour – Scrapbook Layout

"I rarely scrap anything of myself but with this page, because it was ‘only’ me, I let loose completely. I wasn’t held back by trying to make it perfect. I went to messy and beyond… I had so much fun with the colour, taking my inspiration from the Lindy’s Stamp Gang Colour Challenge and just built my background with stamping, stencils, paper layering then splashing around with Lindy’s Sprays and Magicals. I love how it turned out! !- Georgie

Congratulations on being our May Design Winner Georgie , 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!

Our current challenge 'Take A Technique: Texture' is still open for a few more days! All the details can be found HERE.

See you on the 26th for the announcement of our June Winners! 

Take It Make It June Challenge: Inspiration

Hello!

Our current Take It, Make It challenge is a 'Take A Technique' challenge, this months technique is:

Texture!
(just remember you must use stamping on your project somewhere!) 


 Texture can mean all sorts of things, from messy pastes and mediums through to embossing folders and stitching. Lots of layers, or a simple use of embossing powder will give that wonderful, textured, 'touchy feely' effect we want to see!
We have had fun looking at the entries so far, and can't wait to see loads more!

The DT have created some more textured and stamped projects for you to feast your eyes upon, brace yourself, there is rather a lot of eye candy on show!

Winner of the April Challenge: Lin Brandyberry

Elina Stromberg

 Elizabeth Robinson

Ellie Knol

Gio Zara 

Jackie Payne 

 Jolande van Oosterhout

 Kymona Tracey

Linda Walmsley

Mandi Mance

Shirley Bampton

Zoey Scarpelli

Wow! Now THAT'S what I call inspiration!

Why not have a go, then enter your creation into our challenge?

We are sponsored this month by 

Rubber Dance Art Stamps

This months randomly chosen entry will win this fabulous prize:

How wonderful is that?!

 The Design Winner, voted for by our DT, will have their project published in a 2 page spread in Craft Stamper Magazine, will have a guest DT slot for an upcoming challenge, and ALSO gets their very own winners profile here on the blog....so why not get your stamps out and share your creation?

All the details can be found HERE....
Have fun!

Take It Make It Challenge : June!

Hello!

Welcome to the launch of our June Challenge!

As you might remember, this year our challenge is alternating between 'Take A Stamp', and 'Take A Technique'....and this month our challenge is 'Take A Technique'!
The latest issue of Craft Stamper (in fact ALL the issues of Craft Stamper!) contains lots and lots of wonderfully textured projects, so this is the theme for this month....

June Challenge:

'Take A Technique' 
TEXTURE
(and remember you MUST use a stamp somewhere on your project!)

Texture can mean lots of different things, so show us how creative you can be! You could use texture pastes, embossing pastes or embossing powders. You could use textured cardstock or embossing folders. You could add stitching or multiple layers of embellishments. Anything that gives your work that 'touchy feely' vibe!

Show us how unique you can be...get your stamps out and share your cards, journal pages, layouts, 3D assemblage or whatever else takes your fancy!

*** Sadly, quite a few entries last month did not follow the guidelines, so they could not be considered for a prize. PLEASE remember to only include just the one project in your blog posts, we just want to see the project you are entering, no others! Full guidelines can be found underneath the banner at the top of the page.***

We have two prizes on offer this month, the first is our sponsor prize.This winner will be chosen randomly from all of the entries in the challenge! The sponsor for June is

Rubber Dance Art Stamps

Rubber Dance carry an amazing range of wonderful stamps, you really need to check them out if you haven't already!

The prize this month is a voucher to spend in the shop....

I have spent many a happy hour browsing through the Rubber Dance stamp selection... and I'm sure the lucky winner will too!

Our second winner is our Design Winner. This winner is chosen by our DT, who all vote for their favourite design from all of the entries. This winner will have their winning project published in Craft Stamper Magazine, (with a 2 page spread of their very own!), they will have a GDT slot for an upcoming challenge, and will also feature in their very own Winners Profile blog post! 

I hope the prizes have given you all an incentive to win...... and how about some eye candy from the DT to give you some beautifully stamped and textured inspiration!

Elina Stromberg
Elina has used lots of texture on her canvas: hot glue, wrinkled tissue and texture paste, amongst others!

Elizabeth Robinson
Elizabeth has used a die and thick layers of acrylic paint to get the fab tetxure on her card! 

 Ellie Knol
Ellie has used texture paste through a stencil on her project!

Gio Zara

Gio has used crackle glaze on her project for a super shiny cracked look!

Jackie Payne
Jackie has used stitching, as well as stencilled gel medium to achieve the great texture on these project life cards.

Jolande van Oosterhout
Jolande has used heavy gloss medium with a mask to create this great look!
 

                                            Kymona Tracey

Kymona has used white embossing paste with glitter sprinkled over it on her sparkly card!

 

Linda Walmsley 
Linda has used gorgeous paper flowers to add texture to her work, along with stencilled texture paste.

 Mandi Mance
Mandi has used some lace alongside an embossing folder to give the great texture on her tag.
 

 Nikki Killinger
Nikki has created great texture by drawing squiggles in wet gesso!
 

Shirley Bampton
Shirley has used an embossing folder to great effect on her card.

Zoey Scarpelli 

Zoey has used texture paste through a stencil to achieve the great texture in her journal. 

WOW! 

I have to say...there are some STUNNERS there, that's what I call inspiration!

So... as you can see from our amazing DT work, texture doesn't *have* to be messy at all! Get your thinking caps on and see what you can use to create the texture on YOUR work!

 Want to enter?!

All you need to do is have a quick look through all the essential rules and guidelines (on the right hand sidebar and a tab at the top of the page), and then link up using the Linky Tool below. We can't wait to see your creations!

Our jam packed July issue is out Friday!

Our bright and beautiful July issue goes on sale on Friday 5th of June, so don't miss out and order yours with free p&p from our website or download your copy instantly from Pocketmags! 

This month's issue is bursting with...

• A textured canvas from Anna-Karin Evaldsson where she shows you how to create texture using embossing paste and texture tools
• Lydia Brooke Evans' Garden Trellis project where she teaches you how to make textured patterns by stamping onto stencilled embossing paste
• Kay Carley's Time to Bloom where she plays around with Brushos and water to create beautiful floral watercolour effects
• A Bird of Paradise canvas from Jaine Drake where she creates lacy embossed effects on tissue 
• Joanne Allison's Mirror Mirror where she uses crackle glaze and floral stamps to personalise a mirror
• The quirky Shadow Street where Trish Latimer shows you how to indulge in your love of mixed media and create your own shadow box scene

• Kim Dellow's Around the House where she encourages you to rummage around the house and experiment with some relief printing
• Helen Chilton's Summer Wreath where she shows you how to make a whimsical village inside a rustic wreath  
• Make it Metal, where Christine Dark uses inks, paints and antiquing creams to create the illusion of weathered metal on paper
• And Kim Dellow's Dear Diary project where she shows you how to create quick and easy planner pages with a wash of colour and simple stamping

So with a quick round up of the projects in this month's issue and a little sneak peek at the details we know you'll be running to the shops this Friday to grab your copy! You should be able to find a copy in all good craft stores across the UK or if you want yours instantly then you can download a copy from Pocketmags! If you want to make sure you never miss a copy then you can also call our friendly Customer Service team on 01684 588599 and subscribe! Happy stamping all!