HAVE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hope you are all having fun today - spending time with loved ones, exchanging gifts - and eating too much I expect (like me), lol.  I thought I would take a little time out to wish you all joy at Christmas, and bring to you the last of our Christmas images and projects (I think).  And also I would like to thank you all for your kind Christmas messages, and I look forward to lots more conversations and fun with crafty stuff next year.

Isabelle sent us some pics of a most gorgeous 'advent calendar' she had been making this year with friends, and I will share some of them here with you.  Such lovely detail!

And Daniele has been having fun with the Christmas 'Alice' Jolly Robin stamp:

Then I received a bundle of loveliness from Lynne in the post, and Malcolm took some photos.  Great the way she has used unChristmassy images to make such lovely Christmas cards - all stamps by Alice Palace and available on our brand new website HERE - fantastic!

 

And finally such a beautiful card by Lucy, and the embossed detail so perfect (stamp CI-369):

Thanks to everyone who left uplifting comments about our new website, and just a quick apology to Asia King about word verification.  I have tried moderation instead in the past, as I know exactly what you mean about reading the letters and numbers (almost impossible sometimes) - however because we have more than one computer linked up here it proved just too difficult to implement I'm afraid.  Very sorry about that!

It has also been so nice to hear about all your pets folks, after showing you the picture of 'Monty Moodle', and the pleasure they bring.  So here is the final word on Christmas Day from Monty (who is playing 'fetch' games with Malcolm downstairs as I speak).

Jean x

WE HAVE A NEW ARRIVAL IN THE FAMILY ....

Foot stamping....hand clapping.....jumping for joy......dancing and singing - we have a brand spanking new WEBSITE at www.craftyindividuals.co.uk and we LOVE IT!  Its taken months to get together (even with a specialist company on the case), but its finally here, and working beautifully.  Please go and take a look and let me know what you think of it?!  Home page taster below:

It has everything you would expect from a ultra modern online store, with easy to use departments, search facilities, and of course totally secure shopping arrangements, and you my readers are the first to hear about it!

Enjoy,

Jean x

ps. If you are a trade customer with your own shop, and you are reading this, we are currently in the process of integrating trade facilities too, but we are not quite there yet.  We will be in touch soon.

QUICK CHRISTMAS PROJECT CATCH UP ...

Hello All,

As I still have quite a few Christmas projects waiting to be displayed thought I had better get them on here quick before its just toooo late.  I haven't written a single card, or decorated anything for Christmas yet - time has all been eaten up this December - and I'll post one of the reasons why at the end of this.

Anyway on with the show!

Sylvie has been busy again, and created some lovely things for us:

I've spotted quite a few stamps appearing here such as CI-368 and 369 and the violin from CI-366.  And here is another lovely card using CI-358 -

Sadly my own cards won't be looking anywhere near as gorgeous as this!

Brenda made some very pretty and simple tags a while ago with the snowflake stamp CI-241, and here they are -

Daniele also created a beautiful seasonal card with CI-365 -

And I have a gorgeous gift bag to show you by Lynne -

I spy the elegant swirl mask being used in the background on this yummy thing!

Finally from the team I have two great projects by Gio - both using the starry tree stamp CI-368:

Hope my presents all come looking like that!!!

And my final project for tonight has been sent over to me by Annette - a beautiful candle featuring CI-108 -

Well I have to return to puppy minding now.  Here is the new addition to our family (although his hair is longer and more curly than this already) - meet Monty Moodle (a Maltese/Toy Poodle cross) - just adorable - and a full time job!  Reminds me of having a new baby in the house! (And the cat is most put out!)

He is asleep on the floor next to me just now - so I had better be quick and finish before he wakes up again.

Night all,

Jean x

DRUM ROLL ...... HERE I AM WITH THE MEGA BLOG CANDY WINNER ....

Yes its time to choose the Mega Blog Candy Winner as outlined in a recent post, which you can view HERE.  We had 198 entry participants - amazing!  This is what one of you will win (amounting to over £150 worth of goodies, from our website):

Oh my!

My son helped out tonight and picked a number between 1 and 198 (shouting it out from his bedroom in between playing computer games) - he came up with number 123!!!

Lucky http://www.smudgetastic.blogspot.co.uk/ is number 123 and the big winner this time!  So if Andrea C of 'smudgetastic' will please email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk to claim your lovely prize, and of course don't forget to include your address.  Even if you didn't win this time there will be more chances in the future, so keep checking back folks!  Thanks to all who entered - what stars you are!

Now to move on to some more fantastic news.  Effie of http://efemera-ink.blogspot.co.uk/ has kindly agreed to join our little design team.  Effie was the one who spotted the tremendous talents of Alice of Alice Palace, the designer of our latest range of rubber stamps, and passed the info on to us - check all her designs so far with us HERE.

To start off her important position with us Effie has begun an altered book using the bunnies (on wheels) to begin with and here is the front and the back.  Do check out Effie's lovely colourful blog - there is so much to admire there.

Lovely, lovely!  - More decorated pages to follow.

Talking of bunnies I have made a couple of Christmas cards - one with the bunnies, and one with the runner ducks, which I will pop below.  I will also show you what I used to make the simple bunny card.  Firstly this is the finished card (you can't tell on the photo but his crown is shiny silver mirri card) -

With thanks to Helen for the 'Merry' word idea - remember 'a bunny is for life - not just for Christmas'!  This is the collection of items I used to put it together.....

I incorporated some stencilling on the edge and across the bottom with our new masks which you can view HERE - namely the leafy border and the floral frame.  This is a close up:

And this is a similar card using the Runner Ducks with a lighter colour scheme:

Quick, easy, and effective - just add a paper bow around the neck to finish (one of my class ladies came up with that idea).

Lovely Gio has also been playing with the new Alice stamps, and here we have a few of her card creations in close up:

Fantastic use of stitching around the cupcakes Gio - I love a bit of stitching!!

Helen has been making the most fabulous little brooches with the Alice stamps, felt, and alcohol inks (I think), and hopefully she will be putting instructions on how she went about putting them together on her blog soon.  Sooo bright and colourful!

How cool is that mixture of bright pink and turquoise!!!!

That's all for tonight folks, chat again soon,

Jean x

TIME TO ANNOUNCE OUR NOVEMBER CHALLENGE WINNERS ...

And about time too - I hear you say!!!

Brenda Brown very kindly set us the November Challenge, and we have had 28 totally gorgeous entries, which you can see if you click HERE, and then scroll to the end of the post.  It was a joy to view them all, and we really appreciate the work you all put into your projects - thank you!  Hope you all took advantage of the 25% discount on all our products that you could obtain simply for entering?!

Before I give you Brenda's 'verdict', just a mention that we still have a Mega Blog Candy offering on the table, and you will find details in my previous post HERE.  There is still almost 4 days left to link your blog into the post to be in with a chance of winning over £150 worth of CI best selling products - costs nothing to enter, and you won't win if you don't you know!

OK here is Brenda's opening paragraph, followed by the 5 'chosen ones'.  If your name happens to be here please get in touch at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk with your choice of stamp (including your address of course), and we will post it off to you.  Maybe you might like one of the brand new Alice Palace Stamps - sooo very cute and quirky!

........

Hi Everyone, it's Brenda here and as I chose the challenge theme for November I have the privilege of choosing the winners, but oh boy what a difficult job I had. All the entries were wonderful with lots of sparkle and plenty to get us in a festive mood. Each and every one is a winner in my eyes with so many styles, colour palettes and techniques but in the end after checking that the requirements of the challenge were met I decided on these five entries. In no particular order - 

Coco(no1)
A layout that attracted my attention for being full of festive charm, completed in a beautiful colour range and so tactile. The elements are so cleverly constructed and added to create a three dimensional piece that stands on its own and creates a lovely scene to complement the photo being used.

Elly (no2)
I chose this for all the techniques used to create a different style christmas altered box. Textural patterns layered with non traditional festive colours have culminated in an unusual box that still has that festive feel to it and the stamped stars add that touch of sparkle.

(ps - Great tutorial on Elly's Blog for this great box too)

May (no8)
May's card is the epitome of a cold wintry scene to me. The stamped image on muslin looks misty and ethereal and the white paint and frantage create the wondrous snowy effects synonymous with the dream of a white Christmas. 

Elizabeth (no20)
The collection of different snowflake designs on this card are beautiful, combined with the monochromatic colour scheme there is a warm vintage feel to this card. The use of the grease proof paper adds that touch of translucent charm.

Joanna (no27)
This looks simple and effective, but I can see a lot of work went into creating the shadow box for this card. The stamped frame draws the eye into the focal image, the delicate white flowers add the festive feel whilst the beaded garland adds the touch of sparkle.

I wish I could give everyone a prize, you have all created fabulous pieces. Thank you for taking the time to enter the challenge and get us thinking creatively about the season of giving. 

.....

What an array of absolute loveliness!

That's about it for tonight, but just before I leave you I want to give Julie of Paper Pathway a quick mention.  Julie has been busy with some of our products creating super little gift bags, and also has YouTube tutorials on how to go about creating her makes.  Do have a look! 

Lots more coming up - images aplenty on my computer desktop to thrill your crafty senses.  Check back often, and keep those encouraging comments coming please - all well read, and most appreciated!

Jean x

OH YES - HERE ARE THE NEW STAMPS, AND WHAT'S MORE HERE IS A MEGA BLOG CANDY COLLECTION UP FOR GRABS ....

Hello All,

Oh yes - we do have new stamps to share, PLUS we also have a mega Blog Candy collection up for grabs tonight.  Think I had better start with the Blog Candy - and this is it.........

So here we have a VERY Cool £150 + worth of goodies, including ALL the new Alice Palace stamp designs, lots of other of our most popular stamp designs, miniature books - both background and image, glossy, and matt A4 image sheets, die cuts, tags, some Tando goodies (including a heart, and a Christmas tree printer tray), a CI die, and a mask. WOW!

To be in with a chance of winning this little lot you will have to be a follower of this blog and a blogger yourself, then you will have to display the above candy image somewhere visible on your blog with a link back to this post, and link in to your lovely blog via the inlinkz tool at the top of the post.  This will help to spread the blogging word for all of us, and also makes the post more fun for the viewers as they can go on a lovely blog hop - hopefully around the world!  Do hope you can join us and give yourself the chance of winning.  You have until the 10th of December to do your duties and then we will be randomly picking a lucky winner.

Now to get on with blogging the new stamps as promised.....

As those of you on the website mailing list will know (if you are not on this yet - you should sign up now - CI Home Page - for early release info - and SPECIAL OFFERS), we have a new designer on board, namely Alice of Alice Palace designs.  Alice produces 'curious illustrations and words to make you smile', and they certainly make us smile - hope they have that effect on you too!?

Here are the black and white stamp designs, and they are so easy to use too:

LOVE 'EM!!!  You will find them all on our website RIGHT HERE

And I have some inspiring projects to wet your appetite, and of course lots more to follow in further posts.

A few cards to start off by myself..

I used an assortment of background papers including our Shades of Summer, and The Seaside plus other bits and bobs, lots of tearing, some ribbons, staples and a wooden disc to make these.

Lots of the 'Team' have been busy too, and I'll start with just a few samples below:

Here are a couple of quirky and cute projects by Nefertiti - aren't they fabulous?!

Notice the lovely use of CI-367 (ferns and flowers) just behind those adorable crowned rabbits!

What an imagination!

Then a lovely card by Paula, who has got her wax pot out for the bunnies here - and how great they look!

Superb!

Then Helen has got right into the swing of it all with the new Alice stamps and here are just a few of the images she has sent me so far ...

Stunning Helen!

Think I will leave it there for now.  Don't forget to link in for your chance to win the Mega Blog Candy above and check out our website for further news on today's special offer, and another look at all the new stamps plus our other lovely products at http://www.craftyindividuals.com/.  Looking forward to seeing what you do with the Alice stamps folks!

Jean x

ps Back with November Challenge results soon!