Magazine give-away!

Have you seen? There is an exciting new magazine on the market (UK) all about scrapping, yay! I think there is a real cross-over with scrapbooking and art journaling .... I think quite a lot of scrapbooking these days is looking quite painty and inky! If you would like to read more about this fab new mag click here for all the details, but if you want to be in with a chance to win a copy just leave me a comment on this post here because I have got FIVE to give away for freeeeeee! Woop woop! On Sunday 4th December at 6pm GMT I will select 5 winners using random.org and post the results here. Please feel free to take the scrap 365 blog button (above) and spread the word on your blogs :-) Many thanks to Traplet for providing the give-away mags.
*  If you enter please make sure there is a link back to your e mail or your blog on your profile.
* I am happy to post worldwide


In the meantime, if you would like to order the magazine, you can get it from Traplet, or ring 01684 588599

Now, talking of magazines, I happened to notice that Katy Fox, the editor of Craft Stamper magazine (UK) has asked on the blog for future suggestions for Craft Stamper magazine. What would you like to see more or less of in the magazine? More wierdy stuff? More cute stuff? Art Journaling? Altered art? Card making? Techniques or projects? Now is your chance .... have a look at the blog post here and have your say!

I couldn't help but notice that I have now passed 800 followers on my blog. Woweee, what a milestone! Thank you to all of my followers :-) That means that there will be another celebratory give-away following very shortly .... they're like buses - you don't get one for ages then they all come along at once LOL. Watch out next week for my next give-away .......

And finally, the lovely Sue Simpson of Earth Tone Studios Blog has featured me on her blog this week. You might like to take a look here. Thanks Sue!

Byeeeee for now

This and that...

Bard by Amy Wilson Wellenstein

Crow Line by Janet Klein

for Stampotique Originals

Text circles from Around the Edge and Basic Backgrounds by Dylusions

Inks and paints by Dylusions

I like to keep a cheap sketch book for mopping up spills of ink, or ink left over on a stencil - a tip I learned from the wonderful Dina Wakley, and you can probably see that this page began life as a spillage of ink! I added extra and colour to the background with Dylusions paints, and then added the very quirky 'Bard'. As he looks like he has his hands outstretched to catch something I added a few balls for him to catch (or drop!), and then added a slightly sinister row of crows, along with my words:

True, huh?

And here's a journal page in progress..... I forced myself to use purple 'cos I don't do purple! Not sure why .... I like it when I see what other people have done with the colour but I find it tricky. Now all I need to do is journal on this ....

Raindrop stamp by Claudine Hellmuth

Letter stamps by Hero Arts

Staple stamp by Tim Holtz

Basic Backgrounds stamps, paints and inks by Dylusions

Keep an eye on my blog over the next few days ..... I've got a couple of give-aways coming up..... one give-away because there is something exciting happening over at Traplet publications, and one because I can't help but notice that I am nearly, very nearly, at 800 followers. Just saying, that's all..........

Byeee for now.

Stampotique Designers Christmas Challenge

Gog Lin by Jill Penney
French Text and Splatter Long by Jo Capper-Sandon
Splatter by Carol's Collection
all for Stampotique Originals

As I'm writing this blog post I realise that it is only 32 days till Christmas! Yikes! Where does time go? Vicky has challenged us all to make a non-traditional Christmas card this time; here's what she has to say about the challenge:

I'm challenging the team to make a non traditional Christmas card. 

The main rule is 

NO RED OR GREEN! 

Pull out your Stampotique Stamps as this is a Stampotique only week! 

Play along with this week's challenge for your chance to win a $30 Stampotique Gift Certificate, be sure to link in your entries by 5 p.m. EST on 12/13/11 by using the InLinkz on the
Stampotique Designer Challenge Blog

I don't think it will surprise you to know that I'm quite good at non-traditional cards, it's traditional I have a problem with LOL! I thought Gog Lin made a perfect Christmas elf so I stamped him a few times and coloured him with Distress inks. I also added a few co-ordinating splats to the inside of the card too:

This next card is very similar to one I have made before but I wanted to make the Christnmas version, because I just love Mink's sullen face and it goes perfectly with the sentiment!

Mink by Daniel Torrente

Sentiment by Carols Collection

Hearts cubed by Jo Capper-Sandon

for Stampotique Originals

This is a really fun challenge, so hope you'll join us :-)

Your art journal is your friend ...

Doll by Rian Designs

Fish by Tumblefish Studio

Paints: Teal, Lime, Magenta; stamps and Ink sprays by Dylusions

I'm slowly getting my groove back after my recent illness ..... I can tell because for quite a while I didn't do anything in my art journal, in fact I couldn't even face looking at it. To art journal you have to actually think, and thinking was making my brain hurt. There is irony in this though isn't there? When I am busy at work I dream of having time off so I can play with my art things, but then when I had time off ill I couldn't even face it. In fact I'm not really sure what I did while I was off work ... I certainly don't have much to show for it!

Anyway, here is the latest page in my journal ..... The background before I added to it:

And then the background with a few images added:

I read this quote somewhere recently - I'm sorry I can't remember where - and this is what I need to remember 'your art journal is your friend'.

I'm always in love with circles, but at the moment I am especially in love with these circle stamps by Dylusions, and I love to scribble round them with an oil pastel:

Right, that's me done, I'm off. Have a good week everyone. Byeeeeeeeeeee

SDC time!

Bat Boy by Daniel Torrente for Stampotique Originals

It's time to share my creation for the current challenge over on the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog. This time it was Lisa's turn to challenge us all and this is what she had to say:

Lisa here with this weeks Stampotique designers Challenge!  I don't know about you, but I love to use sketches as a jumping point for my work, so for this weeks challenge, I'm providing you the following sketch.

Feel free to rotate it, change the focal image, but try to keep the sketch intact.  For this weeks challenge you can use ANY Stamp companies images, but if you have Stampotique images, we'd love for you to use them.  Play along with this weeks sketch challenge for your chance to win a $30 Stampotique Gift Certificate.

  

Oooh! I am completely out of my comfort zone using a sketch as a jumping point but I gave it my best shot, and that's one of the great things about participating in a challenge isn't it? It can force you right out of your comfort zone and get you to try something new :-)  If you feel like playing along, have a look at the challenge blog here, where you link up with your creation.

Byeee for now...........

New kid on the block!

Announcing new images and new artists are always exciting at Stampotique Originals and so we are thrilled to announce our newest artist, Kira Nichols.  Kira has designed some very unique monsters and kitties for her first line of stamps and the design team has had the opportunity to play with the stamps before they are released to the public.  

Want a chance to win some of Kira's new images?  Hop along with our designers as well as our special guest, leaving comments along the way, for your chance to win some of Kira's new images.  We will randomly draw a winner from one of the blogs and announce the winner with our next challenge.

Make sure to leave comments along the way and a randomly chosen commenter will win some of these new stamps.  

From here you will want to visit  Monique Verbeek

Below is a complete list in case you go off the beaten path and need some redirection.

Kira Nichols

Kaz Boughton

Jane Wetzel

Gez Butterworth

Valerie Wilson

Maria Sabina Raita

Lisa Somerville

Jo Capper-Sandon

Kim Howard

Nellie van Leeuwen

Vicki Garrett

Willy Anderson

Kate Crane <--- You are here!

Monique Verbeek

Joanne Wardle

Good luck everyone. Happy hopping!

Journal play

Doll image by Rian Designs

Borders by Tumblefish Studio

Paints and inks by Dylusions

I haven't really journaled for quite a while. You know I haven't been so well and I just haven't felt like it... I almost got scared of doing it ... The irony is, that in these past few weeks I have had plenty to journal about, plenty to get off my chest, but no desire to do it.

So, this afternoon I decided to get the inks and paints out and get right back on the wagon, and it felt good. This is a messy, grungy, scrambled up page - I just let it all spill out! I may journal on it some more at some point, but for today I was just happy to spread a bit of colour.

Now, ain't this just the truth?!

I often work on single page spreads in my Journal as I love the way two very different pages look together side-by-side. For some inexplicable reason I often work on the right hand page first, and then go back and fill in the left side. Weird huh? 

Byeeee for now, off to blog hop, I have some catching up to do..................

November ready!

Inks, paints and stamps by Dylusions at Art from the Heart

Basic Backgrounds DS020

Dependable Dotty DSDS011

Pondering Petunia DSDS012

Further around the edge DS015

Birds on a wire DS014

Well, who would have thought it? I actually have my November pages ready and it's only 3rd November LOL! This month is a homage to all things Dylusional (which is just as well as there is a very exciting announcement over on Dyan's blog today but more about that in a moment ....) I had my camera at the ready when I created my pages for this month so here is a little step-by-step.

First of all I painted by background using Teal and White, using a large flat paintbrush, leaving broad brushstrokes. I left quite a lot of white areas:

Over the lighter areas I added some Mustard paint by scraping with a credit card:

Then I reached for the Basic Backgrounds stamps. I LOOOOOVE these stamps, they are soooo useful. I used the same shades of paint and randomly stamped the letters, numbers and lego dots all over the pages. It's ok to use paint on your stamps as long as you clean it off straight away, it's what baby wipes were invented for! The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice that I stamped some of my letters upside down ha! But, do you think I mind? No! I like them upside down :-)

Here's a closer look:

Then I added some spray inks and allowed them to dribble down the page, and also tipped the journal so that some dribbles went sideways. I used Sunshine ink spray, and then a mix of Teal with water, and added a little mica powder.

At this point I felt it still needed a little more so I added some scrapes of Lime paint with a credit card and a few touches and splats of black:

Here's another close-up:

I love the vine stamps from the Further Round the Edge set, so I stamped them around some of the edges of the journal and then painted the leaves in with Teal ink spray (just spray a little on your craft mat, add a touch of water and then pick up with a paintbrush):

At this point I like to see how it's going to look when I add the daily squares, so I rummaged through my paper collection and picked out some nice bright colours which I trimmed into squares of 1 1/2":

And finally I added a stamped image, using the body from Pondering Petunia and a head from  the Dependable Dotty set. Of course she needed a bird on her head so I reached for the Birds on a Wire set, and then added a few extra birds around the page:

Phew! All ready to be filled in. Don't forget, if you want to link your calendar page so we can all take a lookie you can find the link here.

Now, back to that exciting announcement over at Art from the Heart ..... Dyan has had us all on tenterhooks for a while, hinting at a big announcement, well now the cat is out of the bag! Dyan will now be a Signature Designer at Ranger no less! WOOOOP WOOOOP!  Well done Dyan! Have a look at Dyan's blog here for her announcement, and a look here for the official Ranger announcement. I love everything that Dyan does, and I also love everything Ranger so as far as I am concerned this is a match made in heaven :-)

Byeee for now ......

October Finished!

Giant Shroom by Jo Capper Sandon

Corie by Janet Klein 

for Stampotique

Well, it's that time again! How did we get to the end of October already? That means we are 10/12 completed of the 2011 calendar challenge. So, the big question is, who's still in?! I think some people that were in have dropped out along the way, but we have also collected a few newbies throughout the year.......... Well done if you are still hanging on in there and managing to keep up :-)

Here is my october page all filled in. If you double click (and I know some of you do LOL!) then you will see I have had a bit of a crap month, but the only way is up, so onward and upward. Sorry about the horrible shine on the photos  ... daylight is disappearing rapidly here in the UK and it's difficult to get a good photo.

And here is the month before I filled it in. Don't forget to link up below with your calendar, but don't panic, there's no rush - the link will stay open all month. Looking forward to visiting you all and seeing what you have been up to.