Well its a New Year....

... so that means NEW STAMPS!!  For the next 7 days over on the PaperArtsy blog there will be new releases - how awesome is that!!.. so many fabulous new products it will make your head spin!... and I'm up first.


I'm really excited to share these stamps with you - its my most varied release to date and I think (I hope) there is something for everyone.

Visit the PaperArtsy Blog HERE where you can see lots of lovely samples made with my new stamps by my group of talented wingmen.

I designed 2 little ladies - the one on JOFY41 has her eyes closed and I imagine has her face to the sun, while her friend on JOFY42 in her boots looks ready for anything!
See that little happy little character on the JOFY42? that's a Critter. Some of you may recognise the name from a page on my blog - funny/cute little fabric creations I made that were 'not quite right' - well I'd wanted to create a stamp of one...  PaperArtsy have a Critter - you may have seen him on the PA stand at shows - he's called PAMM (PaperArtsyMiniMascot), recently I made him a girlfriend... and a stamp was a natural progression!
Now everyone can have a critter.

 

Its a jolly little critter.. I could resist replacing its button eyes with googly eyes:

Here is a great video that PaperArtsy made detailing all the stamps:

On the blog is a card featuring one of my robots - LOVE these little 'bots!! Details of how I created the card can be found there...

The large nuts on the card are die cuts.. but I don't have a die for nuts and so I improvised:

I die cut a hexagon out of silver card, then cut a smaller circle inside the hexagon - a nut!  Bazinga!

So, a new year and new stamps I was inspired to create a book. I've been thinking about positive phrases to focus my thinking, aims and approach to life (the universe and everything! lol).. so I put some of these phrases into this 'little book of Mantras' using Fresco Finish paints and a little (9x9cm) upcycled book that I rediscovered (unearthed) while clearing out my workroom (I had a serious  (ruthless - with myself and 'stuff') clearout - it felt soooo good!)
I wanted this to be a simple book.. playing with new stamps (JOFY41 &JOFY42), creating an inspirational set of pages - really a 'just for me' sort of project.
I'll leave you to 'play spot the new stamps' :o)

I bought several books in a charity shop..

Dinky little board books... removed the printed layer of each spread - peel them off (very theraputic! lol)... and paint!

I covered each spread in a different type of printeed book pages, and allowed them to dry.

Here are the covers.  I painted them in Teresa Green and Dusty Teal Fresco Finish paint.., a book page circle, strip of washi tape and the year die cut from kraft card... and a 'go to' stamp image.

The first spread features is my word for the year... 

... using letters that I found during the 'great clear up'!..

I'm always a little nervous about writing on pages - its the little voices in my head saying 'what if its not perfect'.. 'what if its not straight' ... then I have a stern word with myself (does it matter if its not perfect?!!), take a deep breath & draw lines in pencil, write the words in pencil and then write over them in pen... I made a feature of the lines to link the words across to the photo (taken from an old nature encyclopedia I bought in a charity shop).. stamped a loopy border a few times and 'shaded' using a charcoal pencil (gotta love those!)

I like this phrase.. when I'm having a testing day I often say this to myself.. Slate and Chalk created the background, prints of small bubble wrap and stamps of flowers.. words were stamped onto book text that had been painted with diluted Dusty Teal.

This alphabet, from JOFY21, is great to use - nice and blocky, easy to read - and more importantly - easy to cut out!

This phrase resonates with me too - for those days when MS Fatigue makes a visit... Created with washes of Dusty Teal and Slate and stamped images with book text.

So thats my little book - featuring several new stamps and favourite paint colours... I hope its inspired you to take a second look at board books, and to use my new stamps.. available now from your local PaperArtsy stockist.

Keep an eye on the PaperArtsy blog all this week where there will be more exciting things happening..

New Year...

New Year... New top banner!

and then................. nothing... no new blog posts... no new class listings... no projects... I don't know why I'm telling you this - its really stating the obvious isn't! You all know there hasn't been anything... well, those of you who have popped by every now-&-then 'just in case' something has changed... so apologies to those who did that... (and thank you, of course, for stopping by)

but, I can assure you that while I haven't been here I haven't just been sitting on my behind somewhere else watching daytime TV twiddling my thumbs... oh no no no..

soon all the 'nothing' is going to change... soon there will be something....

.... quite a lot of somethings.. if all goes to plan..