Tuesday 30 January 2018

Our marvellous March issue is out on Friday!

Hello!
 Our Marvellous march issue will be hitting the shops this coming Friday, subscribers are 
already receiving their copies!




Our March issue is, as always, crammed full of inspirational makes!
I was really interested to read the Masterclass by Kim this month. I have used Yupo paper
before, but only with Alcohol inks so I was really keen to experiment with the new techniques 
Kim has shared. It’s a great read! 



We are welcoming new Craft Stamper family members this month! The super talented 
Charlotte Kristensen has a great project showing us why we shouldn’t throw away the wooden
blocks from our stamps, should we decide to unmount them!



Another talented newcomer, Amanda Southern, has crafted a stunningly vibrant project for us!
Such a wonderful use of colour, we love it! 




We also have an intricate assemblage project from Fran Westmoreland..



some beautiful cards by Tracy Scott...



and gorgeous makes using this month’s free stamp by Jaine Drake!


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!

Monday 29 January 2018

Blog Extra: Lesley Mackenzie

Good Morning!
We loved the bright and cheerful card Lesley made using the free stamp that came with the February issue of Craft Stamper. It was featured on page 63, did you see it?
Lesley very kindly made two more cards, to create a wonderful series. We'd love to share those cards with you today! I hope you love them as much as we do :)




Floral Posy By Lesley Mackenzie


This is a striking, contemporary, 3D card suitable for any occasion. It is simple to create while
 delivering the ‘wow’ factor. 
 

MATERIALS LIST

Craft Stamper February Free Flower Stamp by Artistic Stamper

Other materials...

6” x 6” white square card
2 x A4 150g white card stock
Black and Yellow twine
Black stick on gems
Deco Art Media sprays in: Primary Magenta, Purple, Rouge, Orange, Yellow Green,     
                   Turquoise
Black Archival Ink
Black Embossing Powder
Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue
Silicone Gel


INSTRUCTIONS:
Spray the A4 card stock with the inks, using the warm colours on one sheet for the flowers
and the greens on the other for leaves. Stamp and emboss both coloured sheets with the
flower stamp. Cut them out. To create the leaves, cut out the flower petals separately.

Cut the black twine into strands and tie together using the yellow twine, arrange into a 
bouquet of stems and glue to the 6” x 6” card. It helps to hold the twine in place until the glue
grabs!

Adhere the flower heads using silicone gel. Add a black gem to the centre of each flower
 head.

It’s as simple as that, have fun, play with the layouts to create your own work of art. 






***********************

Florals and Stripes By Lesley Mackenzie 






MATERIALS LIST
Craft Stamper February Free Flower Stamp by The Artistic Stamper

Other materials...

6” x 6” white square card
1 x A4 150g white card stock
Black Ribbon
Deco Art Media sprays in: Primary Magenta, Purple, Rouge, Orange,
Black Archival Ink
Black Embossing Powder
Cosmic Shimmer Acrylic Glue
Silicone Gel
Black Fine Liner pen
Stick on Pearls

 
Instructions:
Spray A4 card stock to create a colourful background for the flowers. Patches of overlapping
colours will give variation in the flower heads. Stamp and emboss half the sheet with the
flower stamp. Cut them out. With the remainder of the sheet cut random width strips to layer 
onto the 6” x 6” card.

Arrange the flower heads on the outer edge of the 6” x 6” card front, and adhere with silicone 
gel to give dimension. Place a pearl embellishment in the centre of the flower. Buttons also 
make effective flower centres!

Glue down the vertical strips of the sprayed paper onto the card. Randomly doodle lines in 
black pen between the stripes.

Tape a strip of black ribbon on the opposite edge of the card tied in a bow or knot, and add a 
sentiment of your choice.




Thank you so much Lesley!
We hope the Fabulous February Flower will adorn many more cards and projects!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow, we'll be sharing some sneek peeks of our March issue, due to hit the shops this coming Friday!

Friday 26 January 2018

Take It Make It Challenge: January Winners!

Hello everyone!
We are so pleased to announce the winners of our January 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 43: Cathy








We loved that stunning crackle! The gorgeous background is topped off with that wonderful blue butterfly image, we were stunned this is the first ever ATC that Cathy had made! Cathy  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 38: Karen
Entry Number 53: Carole


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:

"Visible Image design exciting and different stamps and stencils! Our sets include arty images and brilliant background elements, and some really inspiring quotes. Our clear photopolymer stamps are very deeply etched, and our stencils are gorgeously thick for creating divine texture!
We are really excited to be exhibiting at Creativation this month.. hope to meet some of you there!"


The prize on offer for our randomly chosen winner is this set of two stamp sheets:


Congratulations to our winner:





Entry Number  2: Craftyfield

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

Friday 19 January 2018

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 December 2017 challenge is

Cornelia Wenokor



Cornelia won the challenge with this fabulous card! Such fun, and wonderfully vibrant colours. Just a pefect project to cheer everyone up whilst the weather outside is cold and grey!



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



Q: Do you think your stamping/mixed media style has changed since you began stamping? And if so, how?
A: Well, I had to look back at the beginnings of my card making. I guess I always was mostly a CAS gal! That has not changed, but now I make less cringeworthy cards than in the past! 


Q: Do you have a ‘go to’ technique that you love to use?

A: Stenciling, preferably on a one-layer card.

 

Q: Do you have a favourite colour combo?

A: Anything as long as the colours are bright!



Q: Inks or paints? Or both?!

A: Inks, definitely.



Q: Can you remember the first stamp you ever bought…. And do you still use it?

A: I still have it. It says Detailed Rubber Stamps on it and it is from Brooklyn, NY. It’s a spiral
and I bought it to decorate wrapping paper. I have not used it in ages, but I was planning on
perhaps challenging myself to do just that.



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



"I love this card. It was the first time I ever had the guts to take a stamp off a wood block. 
I used my Misti to ink up the stamp in different colors and stamped it repeatedly until I was
 happy with the result. It almost is a one-layer card - my favorite thing to do"- Cornelia







!I am proud of this card, since I consider it my own technique invention. It is an emboss resist
 technique, using an  iStencil. It also is almost a one layer card" - Cornelia



Congratulations on being our December Design Winner Cornelia, 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!


Friday 12 January 2018

Take It Make It January 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....
"Visible Image design exciting and different stamps and stencils! Our sets include arty images and brilliant background elements, and some really inspiring quotes. Our clear photopolymer stamps are very deeply etched, and our stencils are gorgeously thick for creating divine texture!
We are really excited to be exhibiting at Creativation this month.. hope to meet some of you there!"
The prize on offer for our randomly chosen winner is this set of two stamp sheets:
I hope the prize has given you some inspiration to enter!
As I mentioned last week, our 2018 DT will be sharing creations over two weeks worth of blog posts, so I have great pleasure in sharing more art from our new team today!
Enjoy :)

























Wow!

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

Wednesday 10 January 2018

Art Call: Ready Set Stamp Gallery

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 May 2018 issue of Craft Stamper. If you've always wanted to see YOUR card in print, now is your chance!





Colours: Blush Pink, Pale Raspberry, Aloe Green, Mauve

Deadline for submission: 13th February 2018


· 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.
  • Please follow both the theme AND the colour scheme when creating your cards!
  • NEW work only please, we do not accept cards that have been published elsewhere (including online) before submission.  
  •  Stamps used MUST be available to buy currently, either from a UK stockist or a stockist with an international shipping policy that ships to the UK.
  • 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.
  •  Black, white and metallics can be added 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 can't wait to see your fabulous creations!