January Craft Stamper.....

... is out this week and is a fabulously festive issue!  So if you need an extra bit of inspiration for your christmas this is the magazine for you!

I'm feeling extra festive as I have an article in there too...

So if you want to feel a bit less 'bah humbug' and a bit more 'ho ho ho' then go grab yourself a copy - you really won't be disappointed!

Merry christmas!!

Craft Stamper July 2018: Blog Exclusive

Over on the Craft Stamper blog - HERE - you can see the details and instructions for this tag I created for my article in the July issue, now on sale...

Thanks for stopping by...

Craft Stamper Magazine, July...

.. available in all WHSmith shops and independent craft stores now (and online if you'd rather get your creative fix that way!).. and I'm happy to have a project in there this month...

Its a really lovely summery issue - you won't be disappointed!

Craft Stamper, March 2017 edition...

... will be in shops shortly, and am really pleased to have a project in there

.. as always its a great issue with lots of lovely colourful projects - a great antidote for these grey days we're having at the moment...

Get yourself a copy - you won't be disappointed :o)  (or if you don't fancy going out in this nasty weather why not subscribe!)

x

Craft Stamper December Issue...

... is in the shops NOW!

and I'm chuffed to say I have an article in this issue... I love a bit of upcycling and so was very happy to participate in this regular feature...

Lots of lovely festive articles and projects in this issue, go grab yourselves a copy!

xx

I'm embracing romance .....

... in Craft Stamper's February issue... I designed the cover stamp and projects inside.......

The February issue isn't all about romance - its packed full of lovely colourful projects - grab yourself a copy now.

EDIT:  I've had a few questions about the embossing folder used on the card in the article - part of the  Cuttlebug set called 'Love is in the Air' (reference: SKU:2000221)

xx

August Craft Stamper....

... is an interesting/exciting issue of the magazine, as always, but this time for a different reason - the magazine has a new Editor.  Katy Leitch has left for 'pastures new' and Alix Merriman has taken over the reins - I wish them both the very best of luck.

Oh, and I'm in the magazine and that's always a little bit exciting for me!

Craft Stamper, August issue is available now..

(I loved Helen Chiltern's 'stamping with vegetables' article - who knew leeks would create such great patterns, and I loved the beetroot 'ink' - great colour!)

Grab yourself a copy - you won't be disappointed

x

Craft Stamper October...

... issue is out now - and I have a 3.2.1 article showing some things to do with one stamp - yep just 1 stamp! how often do we make projects with just.one.stamp...
I know I rarely do- the more stamps the merrier lol

Another great issue - so go take a look....

xx

Craft Stamper September 2013....

... a lovely colourful issue including a couple of articles using JOFY stamps - which is great :o)

I have an article using JOFY13 featuring cards and a triptych:

.... and an article by Kay Carley using JOFY12 with Copics & Distress Ink pads - creating beautiful cards:

The cards featured in the article are just so beautiful - everything looks so dainty and almost ethereal - love them... Kay's blog is here if you'd like to see some more of what she does.

Go grab yourself a copy - is a cracker!!  :o)

Stamp... Paint... Create...

... says the stamp I designed for this month's Craft Stamper... I'm thrilled to have designed a cover stamp and love how the little stamp turned out, I hope people enjoy using it.  June is a great issue of the magazine with a masculine theme - and we know how tricky 'man' projects can be!  Available in shops now....

:o)

Craft Stamper April issue....

... is where you can find some more information and inspiration for using JOFY stamps:

Its another lovely issue of the magazine so head on down to your newsagent and grab yourself a copy.

Craft Stamper - web extra..

.. in the March issue of Craft Stamper I had some dimensional cards featured:

.... and if you'd like to see another project - a little mini canvas - created on the same theme its available to view as a web extra on the Craft Stamper site - click the photo to see more.  The projects feature PaperArtsy stamps & Sizzix dies... I think these are among my all time favourite cards and projects.

Thank you and congratulations....

...thank you to everyone who followed the Craft Stamper Blog Hop last week - I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, and were inspired to go and create something.

There was a spot prize on my my blog and.... drum roll please... the winner (randomly picked from the 145 comments, thank you for all the lovely comments by the way) is....

MaisieMoonshine!!

Please email me at the address given in the blurb under my photo on the left with you address so that we can send your prize.  Congratulations and enjoy your prize!!

CRAFT STAMPER BLOG HOP

Hello if you're a regular visitor to my little corner of the WWW, or if you've stopped by as part of the Craft Stamper Blog Hop - however you landed up here you are very welcome! 

(If you didn't arrive here as part of the hop then it'd be worthwhile to pop over to the Craft Stamper Blog to join in, as there are lots of prizes to be won and inspiration to be seen!)

If you are new to my blog let me introduce myself - I'm Jo and I've been stamping for about 13 years, teaching crafts for about 9 and on the Craft Stamper Design Team for 3+ years (wow, time flies when you're having fun!)... I love what I do - if there is paint & ink under my fingernails at the end of the day then its been a day well spent.  I also have my own line of rubber stamps 'JOFY' with the brilliantly creative team over at PaperArtsy.

The Craft Stamper Team were asked to LOOK BACK at what had inspired us last year, what had been a favourite product, or favourite project...  Well that was an easy choice for me - last year I created a line of rubber stamps with PaperArtsy which I'm really proud of and this year there will be more designs added to the range - this time with a floral theme - starting with the set below.  Its very exciting.

When I created my stamps I wanted designs that were versatile - that could be used not just for the theme of plate they were on but in other themes too - so as a mini tutorial/inspiration I have taken a few of the stamps from my christmas plates and repurposed them.

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I've said this many times - I love bunting!  So I have created a couple of pennants using motifs from christmas plates. The pennants are 15 x 21 cm in size and cut from white card.

I love the star on the above plate - the circles are great spaces for bling- gems, buttons, stickles - take your pick! lol

I coloured the pennant with distress ink, and stamped the small line image all over it using the same distress colour (peacock feather) and Champagne Encore Metallic (for a bit of shine).  I also water-distressed the surface.

I dragged the metallic ink around the edges too.  I dipped into my chipboard stash (one of my new years resolutions is to use up my stash of 'stuff') and pulled out letters which I then painted with the metallic ink.  I layered them up and stuck them on to the pennant.

I inked up a piece of white card with Champagne ink and stamped the star design onto it.  Mounted the star onto stripped corrugated card and stuck this on the pennant too:

This pennant was made entirely from christmas stamps but doesn't look christmassy at all - great for giving to someone when they've achieved something!.

Using the same set of plate I created a card with a very different theme to the pennant above:

I took the 'noel' banner & masked off the letters with masking tape which, when inked and stamped, gave a blank banner allowing space for any letters or designs/patterns.

I used PaperArtsy Ink & the Dog Words2 plate to spell out the word 'grow'.  I added some of my new flower designs to create a floral design.

One more pennant to show before you head off to finish the hop

This time I've used  plate05:

The long tiled image that runs across the bottom of the plate is great for creating a woven effect background (as does the block version). I used Walnut Stain distress ink to colour up the base of a pennant. Then used coffee Archival ink to stamp the image all over the pennant.

I used various distress ink to colour a selection of stamped flowers and leaves, arranged them with a couple die cut flourishes and adhered to the pennant. Embellished with a few buttons to finish.

Hopefully these little projects/samples might make you think about your 'christmas' stamps a little differently - just because they came in a christmas set doesn't mean they can only be used once a year!  :o)

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SPOT PRIZE!!!

Well done for getting around the Blog Hop - I hope you've enjoyed it.  I have a spot prize for you - to be in with a chance of winning simply leave a comment on this blog post by midnight on Friday 8th February 2013. The winner will be drawn at random week commencing Mon 11th February. Gotta be in it to win it!!

My spot prize is a set of JOFY stamps worth £20.50 supplied by Paperartsy! Your next stop on the hop is the Craft Stamper Blog at craftstamper.blogspot.co.uk where you will complete the blog hop's circle!!

Hopefully you have been collecting letters along the hop - the letter to collect from me is: N

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed my post and blog - feel free to pop by anytime, you're always welcome!

Don't forget to pop over to Facebook as there is an event: http://www.facebook.com/events/384830431610801/

I hope to see you all again soon.

J

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat..

... 53 days!!  and today is November 1st!!!!!!!!
Whoever has their finger on the fast forward button of this year could you please remove it! Thanks!

I didn't blog much last week - don't worry I didn't disappear under a collapsed pile of christmas decorations I was just busy doing other bits and pieces.. but I'm still enjoying working with my stamps (obviously! lol) and if you want to enjoy them too you can order them from PaperArtsy or you can enter the competition in the gloriously festive December issue of Craft Stamper:

I've been making samples ready for my demo at Birds in the Barn (colchester) on Sunday; I've made the star card on the left before but in blue&kraft but made this pink version for a change - I love how fresh it looks... and gotta love hanging baubles on a tag! (Card: star from plate8, greeting from plate2, corner snowflakes mini6)(tag: hanging baubles plate 3, snowflakes mini6)

 I haven't used buttons on anything for a while (shock horror!) so I made up for it on this star!

One final sample - again a version of a card I've made before but this time with more greetings and more bling!  There hasn't been nearly enough bling on cards so far.... (subtle bling obviously -not bling Liberace style!) and lets face it - its why I've sprinkled my designs with circles etc - bling placement! lol  (also the bling is a reaction to the dark days that are coming with Autumn/Winter...) (also its Christmas - Christmas *expects* bling, sparkles, glitter, etc etc etc....) (Card: tree plate4, greeting plate2)

Have a great day...

Shamefully neglected blog!

.. its been a month since I blogged! My last post was headed 'poor neglected blog' but I've gone way past that now! lol

Where to start ... I don't know!... life takes over sometimes doesn't it.. I have a part time job and sometimes after standing on my feet all day (and I mean ALL day) when I get home all I want to do is sit down.. in silence.. no noise.. nothing....  We all feel like that sometimes don't we?  Zapped of creativity

but now the rush of that job is finished (back to normal hours etc) (& can I just also say that I really enjoy the job so its no big hardship - well apart from the standing up lol) I'm back and raring to go again - oh yes - got to learn to pace myself (and I'm sure we've all felt / thought that too!)

A month!... hmm might have to get the diary out to see where I've been and what I've been up to..

*  Well, I had an article in April's issue of Craft Stamper, and an article in May's issue too which is out on Friday

*  I had fun teaching a class at Imagine That in Upminster...

I teach there about once a month and really enjoy it - a lovely shop full of reeeaaaally nice scrapbooking papers etc.  I'll blog upcoming dates when they're finalised (no, really I will!)

*  I also started teaching a 10 week card making class at Southend Adult Community College - LOVE teaching here - the course covers lots of card making techniques starting with the basics - its always nice to go back to basics isn't it?

*  And, MAD MEN series 5 has started !!! LOVE this programme!! its got to be in my top 10 fave programmes EVER.. don't even think about ringing me at 9.00 on a Tuesday because I will not pick up the phone.. nope.. not at all.. don't even waste your time dialing my number! lol

I'm still watching this as much (if not more) for the clothes and sets than the plot.  Well how can you not - the women are beautifully dressed, the men are handsome and the homes are to die for - I am seriously coveting the Draper's new split level apartment... be still my 50/60s loving heart....

* I also taught a class at The Craft Barn.. omg - sooo much lovely product under one roof it makes my head spin! Seriously - I go in 'needing' 1 thing and come out with so much more! lol
Here are the lovely ladies who came to my Die Cutting Masterclass

phew, there was a lot of die cutting and embossing in that class - lots of samples..

* I popped into PaperArtsy before they went off to VersionScrap (that's definitely on my list of 'things to do' next year - its sounds tres fantastique) and came away with some seriously fabulous and inspiring new Hot Pick plates of rubber - so inspiring I really didn't know where to start! lol
I have designed some classes using them and so watch this space for details... to see all the new stamps head on over the PaperArtsy website

oooh ooh and more Lynne Perrella images - its all too much - too much inspiration...

*  I went to a training day in London for my job (learning about the lovely Pandora products).. I miss being in London - I forget what a beautiful city it is... it was nice to sit on a bus on a sunny day (i'd rather do that than be on the underground) travelling down Oxford St, through Trafalgar Square and into the City...

A little rubber loveliness to get you in the London mood:

HotPick 1208 from PaperArtsy

*  *  *

Phew! I think that's enough for one post! Here's a picture to finish, from my new 'art journal' - its similar to the book I showed in the last post but a bit bigger.... its pobably going to be filled with lots of randomness

Take care

Lets not leave it so long next time! lol