And the winners are ....

And the winners of my new art journaling DVDs are ..... TA-DA!

Miranda, who said:

wow awesome candy Kate, would be great to win these nice goodies (European version please)
knowing your work the dvd's will be fantabulous
hugs
Miranda


And...

Tanya R who said:

Not a lurker LOL, but a follower, would Love to win the USA/Canadian version.
Hugs,
Tanya


So ladies, if you could e-mail me your postal address please, I'll get them out to you as soon as possible, and I hope you enjoy them.


Thanks to you all so much for your overwhelming response to my give-away and for your very kind words and comments :-)

Now, if you have a few moments you might like to hop on over to Bernice's blog, as Bernice has a special Feature on her blog over the summer, called Friday Feature. It's a great idea ... Bernice has interviewed several British artists and is sharing the interviews on her blog every week. This week it's my turn! Go here and see what I have to say! Thanks for asking me Bernice :-)

Not much art been happening around here lately .... kids at home for the summer hols = limited free time! However, we did manage a trip over to Merseyside yesterday to see something I wanted to see for a very long time - 'Another Place', the art installation by Antony Gormley on Crosby Beach. 

I am not a number free man, I am a free man number

The installation includes 100 life-size iron men (and you take my word for this, they are definitely all men LOL!)

Er .... see what I mean?!

They are placed over a distance of about 3k all looking thoughtfully out to sea, watching the off-shore wind-farm, and the huge container ships heading back to the port. As the tide came in they all started to disappear under the waves. Totally fabulous, and just a little eerie....

Here's a pic I took on the i-phone using the Hipstamatic app.

But of course, it just had to happen! Bwa ha ha ha ha!!

Right, that's it. I'm off! Byeeeeee

New Dylusions!

Stamps, stencils and ink sprays by Dylusions

Have you seen the gorgeous *new* range of stamps and stencils by Dylusions? WOOHOO! They are all here on Dyan's blog, and here at the shop, just in case you haven't seen them yet. Go look. NOW!

I made this Christmas journal page as a sample for CHA using one of the new Christmas Stencils to spray through, and then I scraped gesso through the new Snowflake stencil. You can NEVER have enough stencils!

Here's a pic I nicked borrowed off Dyan's blog to prove it made its way to CHA, alongside some more samples by me(!), Dyan, and Kaz. Yeehaw! Have a look at Dyan's blog here for a full round up of Dylusions at CHA.

Now, if you haven't entered my free DVD give away yet, you have until Saturday to do so. Just have a lookie here and leave me a comment, that's all you have to do. Thanks for all of your fabulous kind comments so far, you all make my day :-)

OK, today is officially the first day of the summer holidays and guess what? It's sunny! Off to enjoy some sunshine with my kids. Bye for now ........

A give away!

Ok, the time has come to give away a couple of box-sets of my DVDs :-)) So, who wants one?! I have decided to give away two box sets - a European version and a USA version.

Here is some feedback about the new DVDs I have received so far:

Go and buy....already watched mine once and brilliant, as always :) 

I was lucky enough to be at the Artstamps show in Newbury yesterday and visited the Traplet stand where I bagged myself the double set of DVD's. I have spent a great 175 minutes watching them.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and techniques. Ü
I loved the first set too! 

Woooohoooo! Congratulations Kate. Can't wait to get my mitts on these. Absolutely LOVED the last ones. 

Been and ordered......seriously, you will love Kate Cranes dvd :-)  .....you are a bad person making me HAVE to spend money on your dvds that I MUST have lol.......

Hehe, love the giggley outtakes :)

I bought your new DVD’S!!! And I must tell you, they are GREAT!!! Thank you for your inspiration!!!

Watched No 3 last night.... brilliant!

I have become addicted to your artwork and dvd, thankyou for endless inspiration, you are my favourite! 

Thanks so much for your feedback, it is always useful to hear what you think. If anyone would like to leave me any feedback on Amazon (here and here) I would be very grateful ( BTW you don't have to buy on Amazon to leave feedback on Amazon). 

Talking of Amazon ... the DVDs are now available on Amazon USA WOOHOO! That makes it a LOT easier for you guys across the pond! Click here for DVD 3 and 4 on Amazon Usa.

If you would like to be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is leave me a comment below and state whether you would prefer the European version or the USA/Canada version. That's it! Simples! You don't have to be a follower, I am quite happy to accept comments from blog lurkers haha!!

*Please note: This competition is now closed*

For any other information on my DVDs have a look here.

And maybe you would like to take my blog button for your blog?:

Please feel free to share details of this give-away on your blogs, facebook, twitter etc..... the more the merrier! Bye for now, I am off to enjoy some rare british sunshine. Did someone mention barbeque?

Another project!

Well, what do you know, I am featured on a different blog today!! My projects are a bit like buses ... you don't get one for ages and then they all come along at once. If you hop on over to Marit's Paper World blog, you will see that I am taking part in Marit's Quirky Dutch Summer project, and you will see my colourful summer journal step-by-step.

I used loads of Dylusions ink sprays, with a variety of different techniques for getting colour on the page, as well as gesso, stencils, washi tape, a random selection of stamps (7gypsies, Tim Holtz, Tuscan Rose) and some chit chat words from Tim Holtz idea-ology.

I made lots of pockets for my photos (you can see me and my gorgeous buddy Kaz Hall in this one):

So don't forget to hop on over to Marit's blog where you can see the step-by-step project in full. 

Bye for now ........

Featured!

Woot woot! I'm very excited to share with you all that I am the featured artist over on the Stampington and company blog today :-)))))  If you hop on over to the Stampington blog here, you will find a mixed media piece by me with full step-by-step instructions. Go and take a peek!

As always, it is a great honour to be asked to submit by Stampington, and I am delighted to be featured on their blog today.

Yesterday was my birthday. 45 if you must know ;-) My children keep reminding me that I am now officially middle-aged (they are assuming that I am going to live until I am 90, and therefore I am half way). And as I woke up from a little afternoon snooze yesterday I must admit I felt a little middle-aged. But lookie what my lovely husband got for me. Wheeeeeeeee!! Another camera, ('cos you can't ever have enough). But this isn't just any old camera, this is an analogue camera from Lomography, with a beautiful Russian lens, and wrapped in beautiful red leather *sigh*. Who said the future was digital? I think the future is most definitely analogue. Clickety click.

And here is the little beauty with a few extra add-ons:

Hopefully in the following weeks I will be able to share some of my analogue pictures with you. That's if I remember to set the exposure, wind the film on, and remove the lens cap. I already took one photo with lens cap still on Grrrrrrrrr.

My husband surprised me very much on my birthday by making me a birthday cake. Unfortunately he won't let me share a photo of it on here (such a spoilsport), but let's just say I gave him 10/10 for effort ;-)

Check back tomorrow because I will have another link to another step-by-step project I did ....... and check back later in the week for my DVD give-away!

Byeeeeee for now.

It's Stampotique Challenge Time!

Grass  and Hearts cubed by Jo Capper-Sandon

Ti Amo by Josie Cirincione

For Stampotique Originals

It's Jane's turn to host the Stampotique challenge this time, and Jane has challenged us to use a sentiment in our creations. Jane says:

So, we all know that Stampotique has many fun images....how about all the very cool sentiments??  

This very cool TI AMO (I love you) stamp was one of the very early additions to my Stampotique collection, and I love it! I created a very inky background using Dylusions ink sprays in London Blue and Vibrant Turquoise, and stamped Jo's Grass stamp. If you look closely you may be able to see that I stamped it Black, and in Teal to give it a little depth.

I stamped one of the hearts from Hearts Cubed on a scrap of inked paper in a contrasting red and stitched on ......

And then stamped an insert inside the card to match.

Now, I just have to decide who to send it to ...........

If you would like to join us with this fun challenge you can see all the details here. Who knows, you may even be lucky enough to win the $30 gift certificate that's up for grabs!

Now, in case you missed my last post,  lookie at this! My new DVDs are out! Woot woot! You can see all the details in this post here. Thanks so much for all your lovely comments on this :-)))))

Byee for now ........

Woohoo! My new DVDs are out!

Woohoo! I'm so excited, my *new* art journaling DVDs (Craft Stamper / Traplet publications) are out and available now :-))) I was so pleased when I was asked to make some more instructional DVDs, but also completely terrified! OOh and it wasn't any easier second time round.....!

(You will, however, be pleased to know that the lovely and very patient producer told me that he has edited some of my more robust language hahaha!!!!)

The DVDs work in the same way as last time, in that backgrounds are prepared in DVD 3:

In Art Journaling 3 - Bold Backgrounds, Kate creates seven stunning backgrounds using her trademark bright and vibrant colours. Shown step-by-step in real time, with details of the equipment and materials used, you can easily follow along. Kate explains her thought process as she uses acrylic paints, ink sprays, stencils, rubber stamps, gesso and pastels to create balanced, cohesive, yet uncluttered backgrounds. Simple, but effective, mixed-media techniques include blending, sponging, spraying, stencilling, spritzing and scraping and rubber stamping. By the end of this DVD Kate finishes the backgrounds she needs for Art Journaling 4 - Personalised Pages, where she then adds the layers, details, images and journaling to make each page a deeply personal piece of art.

And then completed in DVD 4:

In Art Journaling 4 - Personalised Pages, Kate continues the pages from Art Journaling 3 - Bold Backgrounds and explores ways to add finishing touches, adding more colour, doodling, rubber stamping, digital collage images and even some hand-drawn elements, maintaining unity and cohesion on the page. Perhaps the most interesting, yet most challenging feature of any page is the journaling itself. Kate shows how to add prompts to encourage even the most reluctant journaler, such as making a monthly art calendar page to get you journaling on a daily basis. Browse through Kate’s gallery to see how the variety and beauty of her page designs merges with personal, heartfelt journaling. Together, let’s make something very, very special!

Or you can buy both together as a box set which works out a bit cheaper, and for an extra fiver you can even get me in blu-ray! And I think you will be pleased to know that this time there isn't any background music ;-)

The DVDs demonstrate different techniques and layouts to my previous DVDs, and use a combination of ink sprays, paints, rubber stamps, digi images and so on .... there's even a bit of hand-drawing.

Here's a few sneak peeks:

Watch out later this week for a GIVE-AWAY! In the meantime, if you want to grab a copy for yourself they are available here: Traplet publications Order Hotline: 01684 588599. Also available for pre-order in the UK from Art from the Heart. Hopefully they will be available with other on-line retailers soon so watch this space ......

For my USA readers, please note that UK DVDs do not work in USA machines, however the DVDs are also produced in a format suitable for the USA. 

EDIT: The latest DVDs are now available on Amazon USA

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008MKAZOG/

For Australian enquiries:Telephone: 02 9520 0933
Email: sales@traplet.com.au
Fax: 02 9520 0032


For any other ordering / contact info click here.

A work in progress and other stuff!

I have at least started my July calendar page which is a bit better than I did last month! I have gone for a more random look this month ... not sure if I can cope with random, we'll see. Usually my calendar pages are very regimented, bit I think that is to compensate for my very hectic life. I'll probably add a bit more as the month goes on ... not sure ... just going to let it grow.

Don't forget to link up with your calendar this month, the link is here. And don't forget about our flickr group here.

I taught an art calendar workshop at Art from the Heart earlier this week to a great bunch of girls :-)  We managed to get two backgrounds done, an inky one and a painty one, and even finished one page off ready for some journaling. Not bad for a day's work. Here are a few pics from the day - look out for some glimpses of fabby calendar pages:

Juliette and Gemma

Sue, Tracey and Gill

Donna

Now, talking of Art from the Heart, it's preview day tomorrow where you can see details of all the classes for the next few months. There are taster classes from all your favourite tutors ;-)

Dyan, me, Sandy, Kaz

Not only that, there is going to be a massive sale of goodies so don't forget your pocket money. 

We will also be having a massive clearance sale of workshop items and in the shop. These will include products by Ranger, Tim Holtz, Wendy Vecchi, 7gypsies, Graphic 45, Bisous and more. For any of you that have been to our sale days, you know it is not to be missed!

So, if you are in the area, pop in for a cup of tea, one of Teresa's famous cupcakes, and a good ol' chinwag. Click here for all the details. See you there!

Calendar Time!

Marci by Stampotique originals

Bunting by Dylusions

Woohoo! I'm still on top of this challenge (just!). Are you?! I didn't get round to showing June as a work in progress, but I didn't want you to think I was getting behind or anything like that.

June was quite a month for us here in the UK as we threw ourselves into celebrations for the Queen's Jubilee, not to mention the Olympic Torch doing the rounds around the whole of the country. I have honestly never seen so much bunting everywhere and I love it, so a bit of bunting had to feature on my page.

I turned 'Marci' into the Queen (and I'm sure Her Royal Highness would be just delighted about that!) and before you tell me, I  KNOW she isn't just the Queen of England, but I found this quote in a vintage nursery rhyme book, so it's a bit of artistic licence! 

And finally I added the words of the National Anthem along the bunting ......

I'm so sorry if I didn't get round to visiting your calendar on your blog this month. Life has been a bit hectic to say the least round here, but I will try harder this month. Hope you are all still enjoying this challenge - remember we are over half way now! Link up below with your completed June and/or your July ready-to-go: