Friday 29 November 2019

Take It Make It Challenge: November Winners!

Hello everyone!
We are thrilled to announce the winners of our November challenge!


As you all know, we have two winners to annouce today, so without further ado let me introduce you to our Design Winner:

Entry number 45: Catherine






We loved this wonderful project by Catherine. The colours are wonderful, and we adore the layers of stamping! Catherine will win a Guest Designer slot here on the blog, her very own Winner's Profile, and of course her amazing art will be featured in a two page spread in Craft Stamper magazine! Congratulations Catherine!

We also have the remaining top slots to announce!
The rest of the top three Design Winners are:



Congratulations, it was such a hard choice this month!

We now need to share the random winner of our challenge. This winner will receive the amazing prize on offer....




Congratulations to....







Entry number 15: Jane

I'm sure you've love the prize Jane! 


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 December challenge will be launched on the first Friday of November, the 6th.
We can't wait to see all the wonderful art you will all be sharing!

Wednesday 27 November 2019

Stamp Your Art Out: Prompts #2

Hello!
Our 'new for 2020' Art Call, Stamp Your Art Out is proving very popular, we've had some amazing art submitted already! We thought we would share a few prompts, however, for those that may like some inspiration. We'll be sharing ideas on a Wednesday, for the two weeks after each brand new Art Call.

So.... a quick reminder of the theme this month: 



Love......

So... last week we shared some heart shaped projects with you all, hearts are of course integral to a love theme! However... how about if we take the theme even more literally? Creating art that you love certainly fits the theme, so why not top it off with the actual word, just to make it even more obvious?!
 
In our March 2018 issue, Elizabeth Robinson shared a wonderful card, with a quote that fits right in with our theme:



 


There may be hearts involved on this next project too, but the 'love' die cut stands proud and lets everyone know the theme of this fabulous tag from Susanne Rose. This first featured in our February 2018 issue.





And finally this week, remember we said that your art can be anything at all? Tracy Evans fully embraced the 'anything goes' theme when she submitted this wonderful set for our 3D Challenge feature in the February 2018 issue of the magazine. Altered art at it's best, and oh look, there is the love theme popping up on the trowel!





We love having a good old blast from the past when it comes to stunning eye candy!

Have they inspired you? 

Don't forget, all the details on how to submit your love themed stamped art work can be found by clicking the 'Art Call' tab at the top of the page. 

We've also shared the themes for the next couple of issues too, just in case people want to be organised!

We can't wait to see all your amazing love themed stamped art!

Wednesday 20 November 2019

Stamp Your Art Out prompts: Love #1

Hello!
Our 'new for 2020' Art Call, Stamp Your Art Out is proving very popular, we've had some amazing art submitted already! We thought we would share a few prompts, however, for those that may like some inspiration. We'll be sharing ideas on a Wednesday, for the two weeks after each brand new Art Call.

So.... a quick reminder of the theme this month: 



Love......

Love is a pretty broad theme, don't you think? As well as the romantic aspect of it, dreamy blush colours and flowery sentiments, there is also the very visual 'use a heart' idea too! Today we're sharing some projects that have done just that, used a heart shape as the focal point.

Don't forget, this art call is now open to any kind of project at all, not just cards. Back in our February 2017 issue, Anneke De Clerck shared these amazing freestanding heart decorations. Why not create something that *is* a heart, not just has one on it?



 


Heart shaped embellishments are always a wonderful addition to any project, and would fit in with our 'love' theme pefectly. Embellishments can be subtle background adornments, or can act as a focal point for your work. Lou Withers did this in wonderful style in our May 2019 issue. This crackled heart is just stunning!





Of course, hearts don't have to always be red! Why not try a fun and funky colour scheme? Tracy Evans did just that in our February 2017 issue, creating a gorgeous piece with a heart at it's centre, all in a bright and vibrant pink and yellow colourway...




We love having a good old blast from the past when it comes to stunning eye candy!

Have they inspired you? 

Don't forget, all the details on how to submit your love themed stamped art work can be found by clicking the 'Art Call' tab at the top of the page. 

We've also shared the themes for the next couple of issues too, just in case people want to be organised!

Join us here same time, same place next week for some more love themed prompts, and some more love themed inspiration!

Friday 15 November 2019

Take It Make It Challenge: Winners Profile

Hello!
Welcome to our Winners Profile, showcasing the Design Winner of last month's Take It Make It challenge!
The very talented winner of the October 2019 challenge is:

Bonnie Klass


Bonnie won the challenge with this beautiful card. We loved the stunning bright pop of vibrant colour, the flowers are wonderful!






We asked Bonnie a few questions 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: I've always loved the CAS (Clean and Simple) style of stamping, and I've pretty much stuck with that. When I started stamping I hadn't even heard of mixed media. It took me a while to warm up to it, but now i love tryting new techniques.

Q: Do you have a 'go to' technique that you love to use?
A: Watercolour is my favourite technique. I love to watercolour stamped images with different products depending on the stamp and my mood!

Q: Do you have a favourite colour combo?
A: That's a hard question! I like lots of colour combinations depending on the season. Right now I'm loving orange and brown.

Q: Inks or paints? Or both?
A: I definitely prefer inks. I can stamp and colour with them, I seldom use paints.

Q: Can you remember the first stamp you ever bought? And do you still use it?
A: I don't remeber the first ever stamp I bought, but the first ever stamp by Penny Black that I bought is still a favourite! I used it for the first project below.

We also asked Bonnie to share a few of her favourite stamped creations with us, and to tell us why she likes them so much. Here are the works of art she has chosen:




"This row of flowers always makes me feel happy. They are so easy to watercolour too!" -Bonnie


"Inking this flower with Distress markers gave a no line watercolour look. I loved the simple design with the coloured 'white space'" -Bonnie


"The background of this design was the result of an experiment using Brusho crystals. I dipped a stamp in the wet colour and stamped it over the splashes" -Bonnie 

Congratulations on being our October Design Winner Bonnie, 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!

Wednesday 13 November 2019

Art Call: Stamp Your Art Out!

Good Morning!

We are launching a brand new reader gallery for 2020:

Stamp Your Art Out!

This will take the place of our current Ready Set Stamp feature. 
We want to broaden the scope a little for 2020, so from now on readers can submit ANY type of stamped art for this art call, not just cards. We're keeping a theme, but no colour options. Create with our chosen theme in mind, but with no colour restrictions whatsoever!

We will be sharing some prompts for each art call, some eye candy from our Craft Stamper team, plus some ideas on how to get you started off with each theme. These prompt posts will be here on the blog for the two Wednesdays after publication of a new theme, so don't forget to check back here same time next week! 

We are also publishing the themes for the next couple of issues on the Art Call page here (click the tab at the top) Please enter any call that takes your fancy, but PLEASE remember to put the issue and theme in the subject heading of your submission, that way we don't get all confused!

So....What are you waiting for?!
Check out the updated submission guidelines below, then send us a pic of your submission. We can't wait to see and share your art with the readers of Craft Stamper magazine!





 
March 2020 issue theme: Love
Deadline for submissions: 16th December 2019
 


· Please email your submissions to: editor.cs@mytimemedia.com
· Please put 'Stamp Your Art Out' 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 project!


Guidelines:
  • Any type of project is welcomed for this gallery. Bear in mind however, that if your project is chosen, you will need to post it to our UK office! Heavy items or very delicate items that might not like our postal system would be best avoided!
  • If submitting Art Journal pages, we prefer loose pages NOT an entire Art Journal to be posted to us, if your submission is chosen.
  • Please follow the theme when creating your project!
  • NEW work only please, we do not accept projects that have been published elsewhere (including online) before submission. 
  • All projects MUST feature stamped art work. 
  • Any stamps used MUST be branded. Please do not use stamps sold without designer/manufacturer information on the original packaging.
  •  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 projects using digital imagery exclusively for this feature. Digital imagery is welcome, but  MUST be used in conjunction with rubber/polymer stamping to qualify.
  •  Projects which are selected need to be posted to the Craft Stamper offices in the UK. The projects 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 project is ready.
  • 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!  

Friday 8 November 2019

Take It Make It November Challenge: Inspiration

Hello!
Our November Take It Make It challenge is well underway... some stunning entries so far, we can't wait to see what else you lovely lot can dream up!


As ever, we have another wonderful selection of inspiration eye candy from our Design Team to share today..... but first a little reminder...

 ALL of our challenges this year are '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  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 :)

The amazing prize on offer this month for the randomly chosen winner is..... (drum roll please..........) 






So... brace yourself for some amazing art....





























STUNNING work :) 
We really hope you've been inspired to enter the challenge! You can find the link up tool on our blog post from last week right HERE! 

Tuesday 5 November 2019

Stamp Your Art Out! Prompts #2

Hello!
Our 'new for 2020' Art Call, Stamp Your Art Out is proving very popular, we've had some amazing art submitted already! We thought we would share a few prompts, however, for those that may like some inspiration. We'll be sharing ideas on a Wednesday, for the two weeks after each brand new Art Call.

So.... a quick reminder of the theme this month: 



Stars......

Choosing a star shaped stamped image to use in your art is always a winner! Don't forget, we're looking for all kinds of art work for our 2020 reader gallery, not just cards! So, why not try a 3D assemblage like this stunner from Kim Dellow (from the April 2017 issue of Craft Stamper). Kim has used the Eclectica EEG20 set from PaperArtsy




Or why not try a chunky art panel? This beautiful piece was created by Chris Dark for our March 2017 issue. As well as the amazing starry stencilled background, Chris used the WhimsyGirl Seven image from StarTrish Design for the panel.




Of course, we still welcome card makers of all styles to submit their work for consideration! Perhaps, cards like this gorgeous piece created by Claire Newcombe for our November 2017 issue. Wonderful collaging of all things starry, stamped onto fabric to give it that extra bit of orginality! Claire used stamps by Imagine Design Create, Reach For the Stars and Starmix.




We love having a good old blast from the past when it comes to stunning eye candy!

Have they inspired you? 

Don't forget, all the details on how to submit your star themed stamped art work can be found by clicking the 'Art Call' tab at the top of the page. 

We've also shared the themes for the next couple of issues too, just in case people want to be organised!

So... what are you waiting for? We'd love to see all your Star themed stamped art work for consideration in our February 2020 issue!


Friday 1 November 2019

Take It Make It Challenge: November

Welcome to the November Take It Make It stamping challenge!
Take a stamp and make something amazing!

All our challenges have an 
Anything Goes theme.

That means you can create whatever your imagination dreams up, as long as you have used a hand stamped image on your creation somewhere!
We would love to see cards, art journal pages, ATC's, ATCoins, canvas, 3D projects, layouts, jewellery, planner pages etc etc. The list is endless, create something you love and then share it with us!
Any themes, any styles, any colours. You may use whatever brands and products you wish.

We have TWO winners each month. Firstly, we have our Design Winner. This winner is chosen by our design team, who vote for their top three favourites from all eliglible entries. Whichever design gets the most votes is declared the winner!
The Design Winner of the challenge will be featured across a double page spread in Craft Stamper magazine, will recieve a winner's profile post here on the blog, and will have a Guest Designer slot in an upcoming challenge. Such a nice way to get you and your art noticed!

The second winner is our randomly chosen winner. This winner is selected at random from all eligible entries, and wins the Blog Challenge prize. This month, the prize is.....




 In order to be eligible to win EITHER prize, the project submitted must abide by our challenge guidelines. The guidelines can be found by clicking the tab at the top of the page, or to the right in our sidebar. PLEASE take a look and make sure all guidelines are followed before you submit your entry. The most common reason we have to exclude an entry is because the blog post linked to has more than one project in it. Please remember we want to see one project per blog post, not a set or a group, no matter how similar!

We hope the wonderful prize has tempted you to enter!

Our wonderful design team have created some stunning art to share with you, you can see some today, and some next Friday in our Inspiration post :) 

Enjoy!




















LOVE the wonderful array of projects! Thank you Design Team :) 

So.... have a read of the guidelines, create something amazing and upload it so we all can see. Can't wait!





October Take It Make It Challenge prize: Redraw

Morning!
We are re drawing the random prize winner of last month's blog challenge, at the request of our original winner. Thank you Rosali for being so honest about your use of moulds, we appreciate the sentiment!

So, the new winner of this prize:



is......................



Please get in touch Gerrina, we can post out the moulds straight away!