A Quick Update

Two down and one to go. The new stamp sheets that is! I finished the second one last night but now have a lot of alterations to do on the third and final one as this one is full of words!

Apparently the first sheet has now been sent away and is in production! I know that Jill is hoping to maybe have at least one of the new sheets at the Port Sunlight show on 9th May - this will be an extremely tight turnaround but you never know...... However if this does happen this will mean that if anyone buys them they will get them before me!! That is never right is it??? Anyway fingers crossed that Jill does get them in time.

Meanwhile just to whet your appetite both Jill and I are going to post up some sneaky peeks of some of the new designs this weekend so keep tuned!

Right back to that last stamp sheet then................

The Stamp Man's Blog

Hi guys, Thanks so much for your kind words yesterday - they all really cheered me up and I'm feeling a bit more positive today. I know that I wasn't supposed to be working yesterday but I just had to do a bit and have at least got one of the stamp sheets finished. Just need to get the other 2 done which is going to take a bit more time!

I was chatting to Jill (from The Stamp Man) the other day regarding the stamp sheets and much to my delight she told me that she was going to start a blog. True to her word she has now got one up and running and already has posted up quite a bit of artwork so please do hop on over and visit her. I have added The Stamp Man's blog to my list on the left but you can also click here to see it.

Well back to those stamp sheets.............

Pulling My Hair Out!!

Oh dear!! So sorry that I didn't get round to posting yesterday. Have any of you ever had one of those days where you just wish that you hadn't gotten out of bed?? Well yesterday I had one of those days!!

It started off where I had to go out to The Glitter Pot to check up on some things for my classes there in a few weeks time. While I was there I was checking through their display of background papers and discovered much to my horror that practically all the papers I have used so far on the cards I've prepared for their demo weekend are very low and one of them has been discontinued!! I'd purposely used the most recent papers that I had bought too! To make matters worse their suppliers are out of stock of these papers too and there is no way that they can get any more in time!!

Then when I got home I found out that the fonts I had been planning to use on my new designs are most probably copyrighted and I can't use them!! I had thought that I had finished the stamp sheets but now it is literally back to the drawing board. Aaargggggghhhhhhhh!! I am currently trying to have a go at writing my own words and scanning them in but this takes so much time!

Meanwhile this morning I went to the chiropractor and have been banned from doing too much for the next few days! I cannot tell you how frustrating that is as things are just piling up here! So if you don't hear from me for a little while you will know that I am buried somewhere under a mountain of work!

Before I go and have a nervous breakdown I must just say a huge thank you to Lisa for the blog award which when I get a minute I will collect! Thank you so much - I was absolutely thrilled.

Also my thanks to Jo for your comment about the blog candy - that was really useful. I had wondered how people kept a posting at the top of their blog!

Ok I'm going now.............

Denami Flowers

This card was created some time ago now for one of my workshops that I did at Stamp Addicts. For this card I used a set of stamps by Denami Design. I shrunk translucent squares of shrink plastic, inked the stamps and stamped each one in turn into the shrink plastic while it was still warm to create a debossed effect.

I will be at Stamp Addicts for the first time this year holding a workshop on Friday May 29th and we are thinking that perhaps I will use the new Judikins girl stamps, so if anyone fancies it do book on - it would be great to see you!

Still Busy!!

Morning everyone. Still really busy here trying to get those stamp sheets completed so this will be a short post again!

My thanks to everyone who posted a comment on My Secret - they were all really helpful. Once I have got my act together a bit more I will sort something out regarding a 'giveaway' so do check back in the next couple of weeks!

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Clarky J - no problem at all regarding those cards. I was happy to help. I hope it all goes well.

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I haven't posted up any cards for the last couple of days so finally here is the other Magenta one that we did on the shrink plastic class at The Glitter Pot.

By the way don't forget that next Saturday I will be demonstrating shrink plastic at The Glitter Pot's Spring Spectacular so if anyone has any problems regarding shrink and lives close enough to Scaynes Hill do pop by and I will do my best to help you!

Right then. Back to those designs...........................

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Morning everyone! I am really busy today with trying to get those stamp sheets finished so that I can demo with them at The Craft Barn's June Weekend. Plus I am trying to prepare for The Glitter Pots Spring Spectacular weekend which is next weekend so I don't have time to post up any cards today. I'll try to do better tomorrow! Wish me luck with those stamp sheets!

My Secret!

Well yesterday I did sort of promise to let you in on a little secret of mine......................

After designing the stamp for Craft Stamper it got me back into the mood for doodling and so for the past month I have been working on some new designs! It has been almost a year now since the Oriental stamp sheets came out and so it really was about time that I put pen to paper again. However not only do I need to be in the mood to do it but I also need to find some time to fit it in! Currently I am putting the finishing touches to 3 new stamp sheets which I am hoping to launch at The Craft Barn's June Extravaganza Weekend!! As to what they are......................well for now I think I'll keep you guessing but I may in a few days time load up one or two of the new designs for you to see!

Meanwhile I really need your help! I was thinking that it would be really nice to run a competition or offer where the winner could make their choice of picking one of the new stamp sheets. I have heard of 'blog candy' but still being new to this whole blogging malarky I don't know how you go about doing this so if anyone could leave me a comment giving me some ideas I would be truly grateful!

Meanwhile keep watching this space for those new designs...................

Craft Stamper stamp

Do you remember me telling you a while back that I had been asked to design a stamp for the August cover of Craft Stamper? Well a couple of weeks ago I was sent the stamp!! Originally I was going to be working with it over the bank holiday weekend but as we know my hand had other ideas about that. (Thankfully it is now a lot better - it is still sore and tender but I can now use it normally!) Because of my hand I am now behind with everything and so I only got to play around with my stamp a few days ago and I must say that I am quite pleased with it as it stamped out quite well. As to what it is...................................I'm afraid that I still can't divulge as yet and unfortunately I can't even post up any sneaky peeks of what I made with it without giving the game away.

If you come back tomorrow I might let you in on a secret!

Magenta Flower

Hi guys. Thanks so much for those lovely comments that you left me on yesterdays post. It absolutely makes my day when someone bothers to respond to my posts so thank you!


The card I've uploaded today was one that I made last year for a shrink plastic class I took at The Glitter Pot. The little images at the base of the card were stamped onto frosted shrink plastic, coloured in and then shrunk to add as embellishments. Both the main image and the little shrunk images were from an un-mounted stamp set by Magenta. The flourishes you can see are from a clear set by Hero Arts and the wording is from Francoise's Tiny Phrases clear stamp set all of which can be bought from The Glitter Pot.

I hope you like it!

Peace Girl 2

Well this is it the very last card that I did using the new Judikins's stamp sheets from Stamp Addicts. I believe the background papers that I used here came from The Craft Barn but I can't remember whose they were - it's too long ago now!

As you can see I used the Judikins flourish to frame the girl's head in order to give the appearance that she is sitting outside under some foliage. I hope you like it!

The Last Of The Girls

This card was made using the Peace Girl stamp sheet by Judikins along with pretty background papers that I bought from The Glitter Pot. Both the loud flowery paper and the black and white strips of paper are by Daisy Bucket.

The black and white print out shows you all the stamps that you get on this particular stamp sheet.

May issue of Craft Stamper

Morning everyone. The May issue of Craft Stamper came out earlier this month in which I have got a 3 page project using the Stamps By Judith flower stamps. I have got to say that I really enjoyed working with this range of stamps as they interact with one another so well. All of the Judith stamps are available from Stamp Addicts.

Here is a sneaky peek of part of a card I did which didn't actually make it into the magazine as I had done too many! To see all the other cards that I made you'll have to buy the magazine!!

Ally Pally

Tomorrow and Sunday is the Big Rubber Stamping and Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palace and unfortunately I will not be going! This is the first time since I started stamping that I will have missed this show in the Spring - if I haven't been demoing there then I have attended as a visitor as it is such a good show. As a visitor I used to love watching all the demonstrations on the different stands and used to spend a fortune and as a demonstrator I used to attend on the Saturday (the busiest day!) which I always enjoyed. It is so nice being able to interact with other stampers who love the craft as much as I do.

Unfortunately though I wasn't needed this time but if anyone is visiting the show do make sure you stop by Stamp Addicts's stand as they always have some great stuff and having been in the business for 15 years they know all there is to know about rubber stamping!

Also if any of you do go to the show I would love to hear what you thought of it and what was there.

Tunes Girl 2

Oops! I had fully intended to post yesterday but I was eager to get cracking on catching up with stuff yesterday and then I just never made it back to my computer! Thankfully I can now hold stamps and inkpads and although I had to press the bigger stamps with my elbow, instead of my hand, at least I was able to get on! So before I run away from my computer this morning and attempt another busy day of catching up I thought I would post up the second Tunes Girl card.

So here it is. As you can see I used some of the same background paper as for the other card but this time combined it with a brown spotty paper by My Minds Eye which I had purchased from The Glitter Pot. All the stamps used are by Judikins including the flourish in the top left corner which of course are from Stamp Addicts. The layered circles were done with my Nestabilities dies.

Back To The Girls

Good morning to you all. I must just thank Brenda and Lisa for your kind comments regarding my poorly hand - they were very much appreciated. It seems that something is working although I don't know if it is the pills, the ice or the rest so I will keep all three up today and hope for great things tomorrow. At least today I can actually pick up light things! Yippee!! (Thanks for the info Lisa on the Rosehip - I'll certainly make a note of that.)

As you can see from todays card we are back with the new girl stamp sheets from Stamp Addicts. The flourish you can see is by Judikins and is a firm favourite of mine - this too is of course available from Stamp Addicts. All the other stamps used were from the Tunes Girl stamp sheet. The stripey background paper is by Daisy Bucket and the dotty black background paper is by Pebbles Inc - both from The Glitter Pot. The images were stamped with Stone Grey StazOn and watercoloured with Zig Brushables.

I've uploaded a print out of the stamp sheet as well so you can see exactly what you get.

Playful Elephants

Well it seems that my hand hasn't appreciated all the attention lavished on it so far with ice-packs, anti-inflammatories and rub - how ungrateful!! My thanks must go to both Dawn and Lesley for your kind comments on yesterdays post. I shouldn't complain really (although I probably will!!) as most of the time the arthritis is under control but now and again it lets me know it is still around. Of course being right-handed it had to attack my right hand it couldn't possibly have gone into the left one - that way I could at least have had a good colouring session. Oh well fingers crossed (with my left hand!) that it improves tomorrow.

Anyway here is the second card that I promised to post up today of the elephants.

As you can see we used the same sort of layout and materials as for the first one but just juggled them around a bit. (And yes Lisa you do spy some cuttlebugging which was done on Core-dinations cardstock.) These elephants are also by Little Claire and can be purchased at The Craft Barn as can the Inktense pencils that we used to colour in the image.

Oh Dear!!

Hi guys. Thank you so much for all your lovely comments you left on yesterdays post. Originally I was going to upload the other elephant card that we did on that class but I have decided to save it until tomorrow instead.

As you already know I was supposed to be working all over this weekend but it seems that my body has had other ideas! Yesterday my right hand was a bit tender and today it has decided to swell up and become a lot more painful - so much so that I can hardly grip anything!! (For those of you who don't know I have a form of Rheumatoid Arthritis.) So unfortunately it means I am not going to be able to get on with stuff today. So it seems that I'll have to spend the day taking anti-inflammatories and treating my hand with ice and see if I can get the swelling down so that I can resume tomorrow. Meanwhile has anyone tried to wash their hair one-handed?? It's not that easy! I've now got the task of trying to blow dry it! Wish me luck!!

Dandelion Elephant

Today I thought we'd have a bit of a rest from the 'girl' cards so here is one of the elephant cards that we made last Saturday at The Craft Barn. The image is by Little Claire and is coloured with Inktense pencils. (Available from The Craft Barn.) The strips of card were just off-cut pieces left over from trimming the panels and I just drew a zigzag border on them to create more interest.

I'll post up the other elephant card tomorrow which we made in the same style as this one.

Shopaholic Girl 2

Good morning. Here is the 2nd of the Shopaholic Girl cards. As you can see this one isn't quite as busy as yesterdays card! The stamps that you can see on the purple panel are still by Judikins and so are from Stamp Addicts. I think I am right in saying that the black and white papers are by Daisy Bucket and these I purchased from The Glitter Pot. The flowers were punched out from black card and decorated with a white opaque gel pen and gemstones added to the centres.

I hope you all enjoy your Easter weekend. Unfortunately being that I work from home and that I have deadlines fast approaching I will be having to work over the Easter break. (Whilst munching chocolate though of course!!)

Shopaholic Girl

Out of all the new girl stamp sheets that Stamp Addicts have just brought out I have got to say that this one has got to be my favourite as I can definitely relate!!

I think that I threw just about everything at this card! I used my Nestablities along with some Core-dinations cardstock which I embossed with the swirl Cuttlebug folder and then sanded. (All from The Craft Barn.) The background papers I purchased from The Glitter Pot and they are by Daisy Bucket. I punched out some flowers from Bazzill card and added some Prima Petite flowers too along with gemstones for the centres. Lastly the girl was stamped in Stone Grey StazOn and watercoloured with Zig Brushables.

It's a very 'busy' card but I hope you like it nonetheless!

Here's the print out of the rest of the stamps on this sheet for you to see too.

Princess Girl 2

Thank you so much for your kind comments that you have all left me recently - they are really very much appreciated. I spent 2 days absolutely solidly beavering away on these cards for Stamp Addicts and as you know they didn't make it in time for their live show and now I won't get to watch the show either!!! I wasn't able to watch it at the time shown, so I set my Sky HD box to record it - so far so good. However my Sky box has been having a few problems recently and today the Sky man came to fix it but instead of fixing it he has condemned it! This means that I have now lost all the programmes that I had recorded to watch................arrrgghhhhhh!!!

Anyway here is the second Princess card - still without her tiara!! Once again the papers are from The Paper Company and came from The Craft Barn and of course the actual stamps are from Stamp Addicts.

Princess Girl

Well unfortunately none of my cards made it onto Stamp Addicts's new live show yesterday as Royal Mail let me down and my cards didn't arrive at Stamp Addicts HQ until 4pm yesterday afternoon! So I have decided to continue posting up the ones I made here so that at least you get to see them! I hope you like them!!

So here is one of the cards that I made with the Princess stamp sheet but she is without her tiara! All of these different sets of girls that I'll be posting up over the next few days are available from Stamp Addicts.

The background papers are from The Craft Barn by The Paper Company and the strips of black flowers were taken from another background paper but I can't remember which one!!

The flowers were punched out from Bazzill cardstock and decorated with a white opaque gel pen and gemstones were added to the centres of the smaller flowers.

I've posted up the print out of the stamps that are on this particular stamp sheet too so that you can see exactly what you get!

Stamp Addicts Girls

Here is another card that I made using that same Judikins Girl un-mounted stamp sheet that I posted up the other day. The green paper is by Denami and is available from Stamp Addicts and the black and white background paper I bought from The Glitter Pot - sorry I don't know who it is by!

Did anyone catch Stamp Addicts on Ideal World this morning with these new range of stamps?

Sarah Kay Class

Yesterday I was teaching all day at The Craft Barn. It had been quite a while since I had last held a class there and it was so nice to see everyone again. I am always made to feel so welcome when I am there which is really nice. It is a lovely place and crammed full of crafting stuff - heaven on earth to us crafters!

What really made my day was seeing some of my regular class attendees from when I used to teach at The Barn about once a month. It was SO nice to catch up with them and I must say a big thank you to Jo who had so kindly bought both me and my Mum (who had come with me) a bunch of roses each! What a lovely surprise and such a kind thought - they were greatly appreciated.

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I showed you one of the cards that we would be making on the morning class a couple of days ago so here is the other one that we did. I must say that each time I use these Sarah Kay stamps I am amazed at the quality of them - the detail is absolutely superb and I am eagerly looking forward to some more being released! The image was coloured with Copic Ciaos which are fast becoming a firm favourite.

A Peek At Some New Stamps

Hi Everyone. For the last couple of days I have frantically been trying to get together a few cards with some new stamp sheets that Stamp Addicts sent to me. Because of other commitments I only had 2 days in which to do this so I'm afraid that I had to resort to using my stash of background papers!!

Stamp Addicts will be doing a live show this coming Monday on Ideal World at 11am and will be showcasing these new stamp sheets on there so watch out for it.

Meanwhile here is one of the cards that I made using one of these un-mounted stamp sheets by Judikins. I'm afraid that in my rush to do the cards I have no idea whose the background is but I do know that I bought it at The Glitter Pot and it is double-sided! This was also an ideal time to use my Nestabilities and my Prima Petite flowers that I bought a little while ago from The Craft Barn.

The images and wording were stamped with Stone Grey StazOn and then watercoloured with Zig Brushables.

I've also uploaded a print out of the actual stamp sheet too so that you can see the other images on there. Don't forget to catch the show on Monday to see what the girls make!

Meanwhile over the next few days I'll post up some more of the cards that I've made with these new stamps.

Another Date For Your Diaries

The Craft Barn are now officially advertising their June Extravaganza Weekend and I am thrilled to announce that I will be demoing for them on both the Saturday (6th June) and the Sunday (7th June). This is always a really popular event and has a really nice atmosphere.

This time it is being held back at the Lingfield Community Centre so if you live locally and are free do pop along. There are currently 17 demonstrators being advertised so you will be sure to find inspiration! As yet it hasn't been decided what I will be demoing but once this has been finalised I will let you know.

Meanwhile if you want to find out more information about this event click here to hop on over to The Craft Barn's website where you will find out who else will be demonstrating plus information on nearby hotels.

Dotted Flower

Good morning everyone. Just to prove that I do actually sometimes use the pretty backing papers that I buy I thought I'd post this card up that I did for a Stamp Addicts workshop a couple of years ago. As you can see I couldn't resist doing some stamped backgrounds too! The smaller flower in the bottom right corner was made by stamping the flower onto shrink plastic, colouring it and then shrinking. This bold flower is by The Artful Stamper and can be bought from Stamp Addicts - there are also some more great flowers in this range too.