Stampotique Designers Challenge Time!

Nether 6073 by Daniel Torrente, Large bee by Jo Capper Sandon  and Carol's Flower by Jabet Klein all by Stampotique Originals

Ink sprays by Dylusions

Well, it's that time again - yup, it's the Stampotique Designers Challenge. Today Vicki is our host and she has challenged us to make a triptych card. I love making these cards as there is a lot of space to decorate :-)

Here is the front of mine closed:

And it opens up to give a peek of the gloriously gothic 'Nether'. Of course I had to add some wings from Jo Capper Sandon's large bee becasue I am obsessed with them at the moment!

As a junior school teacher I have a responsibility for music within the school which includes choosing and teaching the hymns for assembly. This is absolutely fine with me because I just love singing (much to my children's disgust!! Haha!) and I often find myself humming the lastest hymn we have been doing so this is a quote from my favourite:  'Be bold, be brave and strong' ( and it continues ...for He will never leave you .......... lalalalalala......) I chose to add these words (although I have bumble bee'd them up a bit) because Nether looks like she needs a bit of encouragement in this area :-)

So, if you feel like joining the challenge this time, have a look here. As it's the second challenge of the month it's Stampotique stamps only, and as always there is a $30 gift certificate for one lucky winner to spend on Stampotique stamps (and you know you would love that!)

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee for now.

And the winner is ......

Thank you all so much for the amazing response to the give away for a copy of mary Beth's gorgeous book - 'Flavor for mixed media'. I used Random.org to select a number and the winner is........

-Lady B- of sniffing glue dots blog. Yay! Congrats to you!

Here's what Lady B had to say:

I want this book! It looks fabulous! I'm new to your blog and am loving what I see!

I will hand your details on to Mary Beth and she will mail the book to you. Enjoy!

Don't be disappointed if you didn't win this time - Mary Beth's blog tour continues here, with plenty more opportunities to win :-)

Thanks all again, have a great weekend. Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

New stamps!

Smushasha by Daniel Torrente

Smushallaum by Daniel Torrente

Octopet by Daniel Torrente

Swirl Stalks by Jo Capper-Sandon

Bubbles by Maryse Carrier

All for Stampotique Originals

All paints and inks by Dylusions

Yay! The new range of stamps by Stampotique has now been released and I'm so excited! See the full range of new release stamps here and some samples by the Stampotique design team here. Don't forget you can visit all of the Stampotique Design Team blogs by clicking on the button in my sidebar.

So, back to the stamps. Don't you just love these mermaids? I think they are gruesomely gorgeous :-)  Right up my street! And I love the fact that they come with their very own octopet LOL!! Every good mermaid needs an octopet.

I decided to decorate the cover of my 'mop-up' journal as it was just a plain cheapy sketchbook with a brown board cover. I used acrylic paints and ink sprays from the Dylusions range - I love the contrast of the shimmer in the mica sprays against the very matte finish of the paints.

I discovered that Swirl Stalks by Jo Capper-Sandon doubles up great as seaweed - you can see it stamped along the lower edge.

Here's close up of Smushasha (Coloured with distress inks) - ah, she's a real beauty ;-)

Thanks to everyone who has entered the give away on my previous post. If you haven't done so already it's not too late to enter as it remains open until 22.00 GMT (5.00 pm EST) on Friday 18 March, just click here, and don't forget to visist Mary Beth's blog too for a second chance to win.

Byeeeeeeeee for now.

A give away! Woop woop!

**EDIT: This give-away has now closed**

A little while ago the supremely talented Mary Beth Shaw asked if I would like to be involved in a blog tour to celebrate the launch of her new book .......er.......let me think about that for a nano-second .......Yup! Count me in! It seemed like it was ages away but now it's my turn and now I'm really excited to be able to share this opportunity with you all :-))))  

Mary Beth's book is 'a feast of techniques for texture, color and layers', and best of all it's got step-by-steps in YAY! Look:

Gotta love step-by-steps :-) There's loads of advice, inspiration and tips for creating texture, layers and fabulous colour combos in your art. And you know that you can't have enough books about art don't you? Not ever. There are several featured artists including Mary Beth herself, Misty Mawn, Susan Tuttle, Tonia Davenport, Claudine Hellmuth, Judy Wise, Katie Kendrick and many others.

It's also got loads of recipes in for all you foodies out there as Mary Beth has made a link between food and art ......'mastering color, texture, layers, flavors and combinations are not only the basics of fine cooking but they are the fundamental elements behind creating great works of art as well'.

The great news is that Mary Beth is going to give away a copy of her book to one lucky winner who leaves a comment on my blog. Leave comment on this post by Friday 22:00 (5 pm EST). That's it. No other rules apply.

But as well as that Mary Beth is also going to give away a piece of her original art WOOP WOOP! To be in with a chance to win this you need to go to Mary Beth's blog here and leave a comment by Friday 22:00 (5 pm EST) Somebody is going to be very lucky indeed :-)

Ok, so what's been happening around here? Just bits and bobs really - a few things I can't post yet for various reasons, and a few samples ready for the Great Northern Papercrafts Extravaganza (Harrogate UK) next Saturday as I'll be there with Dyan on the Art from the Heart stand.  More about that later .....

Here's a tag I started at the journal class I taught last week - by the way the quotes are completely random!

Paints, inks and stamps by Dylusions

Bye for now, don't forget to leave a comment to be in with a chance to win the book, and then hot foot it over to Mary Beth's blog to be in with a chance to win some art! Byeeeeeeeee

Stampotique Designers Challenge time!

Large bee by Jo Capper-Sandon for Stampotique Originals

Karin by Daniel Torrente for Stampotique Originals

Inks by Dylusions

It's Stampotique Designers Challenge time again! This time it's hosted by Kaz, who has challenged us all to us any animal, bird or insect stamp on our creation. As it's the first challenge of the month you can use any stamps, although it would be nice if you use Stampotique of course :-) To play along, you need to link your creation to the Stampotique Designers Challenge blog for a chance to win a gift voucher for $30 to spend on Stampotique Originals yay!

I created another page in my mop-up journal for this challenge. The page was already covered in left-over orange / yellow ink which I thought would be a good colour for this. For the body I used Jo Capper-Sandon's big bee, and I added Karin's head and legs ha ha! I stamped the bee twice so that I could give Karin some 3-D wings:

I added this quote (computer generated):

I could never get my head around that quote when I was little! I just didn't 'get' it!

And here's a close-up of Karin as a bee:

Byeeeeeeeeeee for now. Don't forget to check out the challenge!