Our inspirational July issue hits the shops this Friday!

The July issue of Craft Stamper hits the shops this Friday (June 2nd)

 Subscribers will be getting their copies very soon!

Fingers crossed this July issue finds everyone enjoying some nice warm beach weather! We thought our cover might make everyone feel nice and summery.

Our cover star is Monika Januszewska, with one of the creations in our 3D challenge this month. The level of intricate, beach-themed detail in Monika’s frame is just stunning! 

As we (finally!) have the Grunge Star polymer stamp designed by Kim Dellow as our covermount this month, we thought we should share some more amazing inspirational projects using it. Sue Wherry and Linda Walmsley have done a wonderful job!

Junk Journals are all the rage right now. Upcycling at its best, journals can be created from just about any kind of paper or card you have lying about. Jaine Drake shows us a stunning example, with a wonderful tutorial on how to bind your journals together in this issue. 

We also have an wonderfully tactile fabric journal project by Tracy Easson,

 An inspirational Masterclass from Riikka Kovasin on Gel Medium,

 and a gallery full of ‘Summertime Sunset’ themed cards in this issue, including this fabulous card by Sandra Fowler:

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!

Take It Make It Challenge: May Winners!

Hello everyone!

We are so pleased to announce the winners of our May 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 35: Carol

We loved the wonderful images and colour scheme used on Carols project, so many fabulous layers of detail! Carol 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 Four (there was a tie in the voting!) are:

Entry number  47: Karen
Entry Number 58: Christine 
Entry number 83: Carole

Wonderful projects ladies!

We now need to share the randomly chosen winner with you all!

This winner will recieve the prize offered by our sponsor this month:

Imagine Design Create

Imagine Design Create is an online shop and also a bricks and mortar store in Devon, UK. The brainchild of owner Kerri Ann Briggs, the store offers a wide variety of crafty stash, from stamps and inks to paints and papers. Everything you could want! 
The range of own brand stamps is fabulous, and we have three of these sets on offer as the prize for our randomly drawn winner this month!

Congratulations to our winner:

Entry Number  41: Donna

      Congrats Donna, 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 June challenge will be launched next Friday, June 2nd
We can't wait to see all the wonderful art you will all be sharing!

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 April 2017 challenge is

Sari Aavamäki

 From: 
www.aavamaki.blogspot.fi

Sari won the challenge with this amazing card! We loved the fabulous background, and how the subtle colour scheme just works so wonderfully well with the stamping. Gorgeous!

We asked Sari 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’ve been stamping since 2011, I got started when my neighbour introduced me to the world of stamping in real life and in blog land; that’s how my blog also got it’s name: Granne (=neighbour in Swedish)

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

A:  I don’t have any particular style in my crafting, I love to test and try different styles so I kind of like all kind of stamps. But since I do like to colour, I prefer stamps with images that I know are fun to colour.

 

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

A: I go with a Mojo, LOL. CAS is the direction where my cards are going these days, but when I do AJ pages … messy me comes up.

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

A: I think cards are my “basic” things, but do love making ATC’s too, and and and…

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

A: My Copics.

We also asked Sari 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:

"It’s always fun to look when you add water to the Brushos and “magic” happens.  Loved adding layers to this tag, Brushos, stamping, coloring, stenciling and then the delicate die cuts on top.  All from STAMPlorations. (http://stamplorations.auctivacommerce.com/ )"- Sari

"It was so hard to pick just few, but I decided to stay on a flower theme.

Tulip card: This card was one of the first cards that I “just stamped away”. No exact plan, only playing with Lost Coast Design (http://www.lost-coast-designs.com/ ) stamps, one H2O color and embossing powder, having fun and loving the result" - Sari 

Congratulations on being our April Design Winner Sari , 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 Stamp -Anything Goes" is still open for a few more days!
Don't forget the wonderful prize, the 3 stamp sets  from  Imagine Design Create

  All the details can be found HERE.

Take it Make it May Challenge: 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....

Imagine Design Create

Imagine Design Create is an online shop and also a bricks and mortar store in Devon, UK. The brainchild of owner Kerri Ann Briggs, the store offers a wide variety of crafty stash, from stamps and inks to paints and papers. Everything you could want! 
The range of own brand stamps is fabulous, and we have three of these sets on offer as the prize for our randomly drawn winner this month!

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! 

Guest Designer:  Nikki Acton

Cheremane Smith

Elina Stromberg

Elizabeth Robinson

Ellie Knol

Jolande van Oosterhout 

Linda Walmsley

Majo Wybranietz 

 

Mandi Mance

Shirley Bampton

Wow!

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

Ready Set Stamp: Reader Submissions Wanted!

Ready Set Stamp: Reader Submissions Wanted!

THANK YOU so much for all the fabulous cards submitted for our last art call, it was so hard to choose just a few to publish! We can now announce the next theme.....

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

Colours: Bubblegum Pink, Maroon, Peony Pink, Baby Pink

Deadline for submission: 12th June 2017

· Please email your submissions to: editor.cs@mytimemedia.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.
. NEW work only please, we do not accept cards that have been published elsewhere (including online) before submission.  
 . Please do not use stamps that are discontinued for this article.
. We do not accept cards ONLY created with digital imagery for this feature. Digital imagery is welcome, but  MUST be used in conjunction with rubber/polymer stamping to qualify.

· Cards which are selected need to be posted to the Craft Stamper offices in the UK. The cards will be returned, along with a complimentary issue of the magazine.

· 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.

· 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.

We look forward to seeing all of your beautiful designs!

Exclusive Blog Extra: Andy Skinner for DecoArt

Good Morning!
As part of our As Seen On TV feature in the June issue of Craft Stamper magazine, the amazing Andy Skinner has created some amazing projects! Representing DecoArt on Hochanda TV, Andy showcases some wonderful techniques, and we're thrilled to be sharing an exclusive step by step from Andy today!

This is bound to be a big hit with those of you who love their art dark and moody..... and for those that prefer to work with a more upbeat theme, the background technique shared can of course be used across all kinds of art to amazing effect!

Over to Andy....

As well as having an industrial gothic style, I like to add elements of mystery and darkness into my work and thats from someone who cannot even watch a horror film!

I wanted this tag to have a dark mysterious look and only use 3 colours, Black, White and Red.

I also wanted to use the stamps in a different way that the norm, grabbing texture from areas of a stamp rather than using the whole thing.

These techniques can be used on a variety of surfaces including wood, canvas, paper to give an aged worn look.

MATERIALS LIST

Decoart Media Fluid Acrylics in:
Carbon Black

Pyrrole Red

Decoart Media Tinting Base

Stamps used...
Stampendous / Andy Skinner Stamps

Skulduggery

Unexplained

Handle with care

Other materials...

Stazon Ink (Jet Black)

Black Archival Ink

Tando Creative Mixed Media Tag

Step-by-step… Face your Fears

Step 1

Mix Carbon black with some White tinting base to make different shades of grey, blend these on the surface of the tag and cross hatching with a flat soft brush.

Step 2

Once dry place some circles randomly using a bottle top and Carbon Black and spatter the surface with White tinting base.

Step 3

Load some tinting base on the tip of the brush, wipe most of the paste off onto some paper towel and dry brush inside the circles to lighten them.

Step 4

Using the edge of a credit card and carbon black, add some lines in random areas.

Step 5

Stamp numbers with Pyrrole Red followed by the skull. Once skull is dry over stamp lightly with Jet Black Stazon. Stamp words and random texture from the skull stamp.

Step 6

Add clean water to some Pyrrole Red and drip this mix down from the top of the tag and allow to dry.

Step 7

Using the edge of the Heart stamp, add texture around the edge of the tag using Stazon.

Step 8

Blend Black archival ink around the edge of the tag using a sponge.

We love how there are just so many details to be seen in this pice, stunning!

Thank you so much Andy, amazing project!