Debbie's CS Side Step Card

For my spotlight today on November's issue of Craft Stamper magazine projects by our design team, it's our Debbie's turn, Debbie Dolphin, using this cling stamp by Hero Arts, CG120 Antique Background!

Now this was an EXTRA special project, as it was also my birthday card from Debbie!!

I cannot show the card here but I'm now allowed to take it back to the shop for visitors to see in real life:)  It has been in a very prominent position in our living room since mid August for me to admire and appreciate, I will miss it when it goes to the shop as the colours Debbie used match our room perfectly, it was definitely not a card to be put away after the day!!

It is Debbie's fantastic side step card project, on pages 46 - 48 of this month's mag.  Firstly, I have to compliment Debbie on her step by step instructions and illustrations to show you how to make the card, I know that a lot of thought went into choosing just the right stamp and materials to make that card and article, thank you Debbie:)

I did also note that Debbie had used 2 of her very precious metal corner embellishments on the card, now that really made my day... how special was I to receive them on my card!!! It's a bit of an in joke, but I know that it means much more than Debbie giving away her last rollo!  Sorry Debbie, but I'm going to share the story of when you raided one of my cards to you of 2 of those corners when we couldn't get any more stock of them... so she could use them on card she was making, well I just got them back, ha ha!!!  

If you've not got the November issue of Craft Stamper yet, then you will find it HERE, the stamps Debbie used are HERE, and the ink pads HERE.

Tomorrow, it'll be Vix's turn for my Craft Stamper spotlight:)

Thank you for visiting today!

Jill

Compo's Matchbox

Have you received your copy of November Craft Stamper yet?  If you have, take a look at pages 78 and 79 where you will find Michelle Marshall's Bug Box project.  Michelle is a member of our design team, Midnight-Crafter

Michelle came up with a fantastic idea that is so different, now I have to tell you that Michelle has given us a sample for the shop and bearing in mind I KNEW what to expect when I opened the box, I still jumped and got the creepy crawlies as something moved in the box when I opened it, now it could have been the jump that caused the movement when I saw the bugs, they are awesomely and frightenly realistic!! 

The Midnight Copper Moonglow embossing powder and the Autumn Leaf Starburst Stains really make them shimmer and shine, they are far too life like, so, if you fancy making someone jump, and really making a boy of any age a special treat, especially for halloween then the timing of this couldn't be better!

It's proving a popular project so if you haven't got a copy of the latest Craft Stamper mag, then you'll be able to grab a copy HERE, the stamps are HERE, the ink pads are HERE, the Starburst Stains are HERE and the embossing powder is HERE. 

I'm certain you'll have fun with this one!!!!

Jill

Live show on Create & Craft Saturday at noon!

If you are near a telly at noon on Saturday, I'm on Create and Craft again for Craft Creations.  I've been having a play with all the goodies from the last 2 shows and have been having a great time with glue and paper!  Been a bit messy in fact:)  Honestly, I have!  You'll have to watch.  I think it will be repeated during the evening and night as usual.

Do visit our challenge blog at noon today for the start of our new fortnightly theme and a blog hop with lots of prizes!!

Jill

Challenge/Blog Hop Alert!!!!

From noon on Friday for a fortnight we will be hosting a great new challenge theme and also an exciting blog hop!!

Excitement is growing here for our next challenge theme, which is altered, where we challenge YOU to alter something.  I've already challenged our design team and you will see they have done a brilliant job with this theme:)

I know from talking to people that this isn't everyone's thing, mainly as most stick to card making, well this is your chance to give it a go, and just in case you are thinking of running away, we're grabbing you back with the lure of some great prizes!!!  There will be a special one-off extra prize draw for those that actually join in with the challenge as well as the usual Top 5.  Can we tempt you to join in?

Plus there will be a blog hop around our design teams blogs where you will find our altered items and a chance to win a prize at every blog you visit.  How great is that!!

If you haven't tried a blog hop before everything will be explained over on our challenge blog from noon on Friday, it will run for a fortnight so you will have plenty of time to get around the blogs on the hop. 

You can all join in the blog hop, whether or not you enter the challenge (but we hope you will), you don't have to be based in the UK and, you don't even have to have a blog to enter, just an email address and a sense of fun!

So, get your thinking caps on for something to alter...go on, go on...you know you want to!!!

Perhap alter the labelling on a jar of preserves or a nice shaped box that you could prepare as a Christmas gift, or perhaps alter a picture frame, or a mirror, a book cover, well anything... the wackier the better, we say!! 

Don't be scared of this theme, I have been asked to explain what altering means, it is literally altering, changing the appearance or even function of an item.  You can alter/change things in different styles, it can be elegant, funky, distressed/shabby chic, or it can be arty.  But... it really doesn't have to just be 'arty/collagy', I believe the arty/collagy bit is what scares us, so why not try doing your own thing, in your own normal style! You may be surprised with what you come up with.  If it is new to you why not give it a go, keep it simple, not scary:)

I hope you will join us and challenge yourself!!!!

Jill

Butterfly Beauties

Typical!!!  I was hoping that when I took some photos of this card that you would be able to see the effects, but alas no, they didn't show in the pictures and unless you saw the show you wouldn't know that I used the Periwinkle Yink pigment ink with 2 of the two-tone Moonglow embossing powders over the top.  I used the Golden Pumpkin Blush and the Weeping Willow Green Gold, the later matches the shade of the brads I used in her hair. 

Weeping Willow Green Gold is the same embossing powder I used on the heart I posted about before, it looks nothing special in the jar but here over the clover pigment ink you can really see the effects, you just have to imagine them over the Periwinkle ink! 

It was a quick card to make, after embossing I used the same ink to paint her hair.

Here's another example below showing all 3 Yinks colours on the show to ink the stamp that was then embossed the same way, then coloured with the same inks.

If you haven't got this stamp sheet yet and would like it, you'll find it HERE, and the individual jars of Moonglow Embossing Powders can be found HERE.

Do pop over to Vix's blog now to see her magnificent domino key ring that was shown during the show, it's awesome!!

I hope you are having a great Sunday!!

Jill

A few more things from Wednesday's show

 

The heart above was made the same way as the heart on the show, except I used Versamark underneath instead of one of the Yinks.  I used the cosmic blue violet embossing powder.

Above is another page from the Alluring Ladies mini journal.  The background was made with water spritzed ink using the Atmosphere ink pad.  For the the border stamping I used the brown Stazon ink on part of the stamp with the full ladies face, as shown on the card below, I simply inked the swirls at the bottom left hand side of the image.  I LOVE versatile stamps... so useful!

The last photo today is of the Golden Angel Wings embossing powder, I mentioned in the show how good it is on cream card.  It gives a really elegant look which is ideal for wedding cards. 

I'll show some more things from the show another time.

Jill

A few more photos of the mini journals

What a day it was yesterday, thank you to those that watched the 2 shows, placed orders, and gave feedback.  It all passed at great speed, especially in comparison to waiting for the hotel kettle to boil at 4.30am yesterday morning for my first cup of tea of the day!! 

There was so much I wanted to say and do on the show but as usual there wasn't enough time.  I was exhausted by the time I got home, and I have to say that I don't know how those Create and Craft presenters manage to keep going show after show, day in, day out.  Stef was on top form, nice to know that she is feeling much better now.

I booked another show today, for Sunday 7th November at noon, I wish it could be sooner than that but October is jam packed what with the Happy Stampers Port Sunlight show, our open weekend following that and then the Stamp Magic Doncaster show at the end of the month. 

The Alluring Ladies mini journal cover is above, and the Artistic Elements journal cover is below..

I used the Yinks with Moonglow Daybreak embossing powders, you cannot see in the photo but I used 3 or 4 different EP's over the ink, the base colour was with the periwinkle Yinks ink, but it actually shows a rainbow of colours in real life.

I'll show more of the pages soon but today I also wanted to show one of the Cuttlebug'd pocket pages, as they work so well.

I love these mini journals, they have great potential!!!

Thanks again!!!

Jill

Live show 9am!!! Sneak peek

Just a very quick post with another sneak peek ahead of the show.  I hope you are able to watch at 9am or you can perhaps catch a repeat later. 

I'll be back on at noon for Craft Creations, they have a number of gorgeous Christmas tree cards, I'm very impressed with those and the papers in the show are really fab!

I hope you enjoy the shows

Jill

Tomorrow's live show - a sneak peek!

Thank you everyone who came to visit our stand at Harrogate over the weekend, it was so hot in there on Saturday wasn't it!!  Anyway, before I set off down to Peterborough I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at some content of tomorrow's Create and Craft show.

There'll be another sneak peek here before the show starts at 9am.

I am then back on at noon for Craft Creations, I have received the sample cards and kits and I have to say although I am a stamper, I do like the kits they have put together for the show, I am very impressed with the cards the design team from Craft Creations have made with them.

Have a good day!

Jill

New challenge starts today, and a sneak peek

Our new challenge theme starts today, the theme is distress, take a look HERE.  It will be great if you could join in with us, you have about 2 weeks to get your entries in!

My entry is a sneak peek at a mini journal that we are featuring in our next Create and Craft live show which will be at 9am on Wednesday 15th September.  I hope you will be able to watch the show or one of the repeats, if not perhaps you can set your recorders as there is a lot of lovely work from our Design Team featured on the show for inspiration, plus I will most definitely be getting messy!!

I'm still working on two journals but if anyone wants a real life sneak peek I'll have them at the Harrogate show this weekend.

I will also be on at noon on the same day with a show for Craft Creations.

Getting back to the Harrogate show, I forgot to tell you the other day when I posted that we will have some bargain unmounted stamps on sale!  There are stamp sheets and individual unmounted stamps, including Christmas designs, so call and see us early to get the best designs before they go!!

If you can't make it to the show, they are on our website too.

Have a great weekend!!

Jill

Harrogate show and another two C & C live shows

Why is it that everything comes along at once!!  We've a busy week here as we will be at the Great Northern Papercraft Show in Harrogate this coming Saturday and Sunday.  Our stand is in our usual place, please do come and say hello!  Amongst other new/newish things we have the new Hero Arts Christmas stamps and I have to say that far too many of them are just TOO lovely to resist! 

I'm back at Create and Craft on Wednesday at 9am for a stamping show, there'll be stamps, inks, stains and embossing powders on that show then I'm on again at noon for Craft Creations.

Our new challenge starts on Friday with a distress theme, thank you to those of you that have joined in the challenges so far and we hope you will join us for this next one.

Jill