HALLOWEEN MADNESS OR CHRISTMAS FRENZY....

A tiny bit early but 'Halloween Madness, or Christmas Frenzy' is the name of our October Challenge!!  We are busily preparing everything for the show at Port Sunlight, and therefore as tomorrow and Thursday will be mad I hope you don't mind if I get the new challenge up and running now in order to get back to the preparations in earnest.

Gio is in charge of this Challenge and has chosen the topic for the month, and we would all love it if you could join in with a link to either a Halloween make or a Christmas make of your own, as lots of you will be in full swing with your preparations now for one or both of these festivities I'm sure.

Here are the usual Guidelines:

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

To enter this month's Crafty Individuals Challenge please put together your chosen project, which must include at least one Crafty Individuals product please, then post your Challenge project on your Blog, before the end of the month, and include a link back to this Blog.  Leave a link in the URL box displayed in this post to take us directly to your Challenge project, which will then appear on this Blog as a thumbnail image - so we can all see your wonderful arty work.

At the end of the month Gio will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will win a CI rubber stamp of their choice, and don't forget that as per usual, once you have linked in your creation, you can also claim a lovely 25% discount code to use on anything you purchase from the CI Website, which will be valid until the 10th of November.

Go for it, and enjoy the challenge x

.....

As always we look forward to seeing your entries - you will be in with a chance of winning a free stamp, and you will also be able to obtain a cool 25% CI web discount.  When you have linked in your entry please email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk to obtain your special code, and then go shopping!

And now its time for a bit of inspiration to get you creatively focussed.  We will start with some from Gio herself.  A very pretty card with a Christmas theme (Gio has used CI-399 and our mask Floral Frame here):

And a spooky card with a Halloween theme (using CI-352 and Alice stamp CI-400):

Joanna has used the same stamp CI-399 as Gio to make this adorable card:

Plus she has partnered the card above with another made with one of our brand new stamp issues CI-421 -  quick get this stamp whilst its still on a special introductory offer!!

Then the wise old Alice owl makes another appearance on this very cool make by Sylvie - simply spookily fabulous:

In addition Sylvie has used the poison bottles from CI-360 and the Tando Arabian Style Layered Arch Frame to complete her make.

Well hopefully that will have got you putting your thinking cap on and don't forget to link in your make as soon as you can!

Back soon with lots more to see,

Jean x

NEW STUFF.. NEW STUFF.. NEW STUFF..

New stuff today indeed, but firstly thanks to Rachel, Ionabunny, Rita, Craftyfield, Sid, Nefertiti, Julie, Gerrina, Coco and Lucy for their sweet comments on my last post - always very much appreciated!  We are in the throes of getting ready for Port Sunlight stamping show, which is on the 4th October (hope you have got your tickets?), and wanted to release some new stamps just before the show.  They are on special introductory offer right now in the New Products section (as well as the usual sections), and if you are coming to the show we will have them on special offer there as well.  (Although the website special finishes next Friday we will carry the special on over to the Show). 

Here they are - firstly two new Christmas stamps.  The first is CI-420 (if you want you can cut along the dots when stamped, then they look even more like postage stamps):

The second is CI-421 'A Christmas Delivery', and we have little Monty Moodle on the lower right hand side, helping the lady post her card. (Love him to bits x)

Here is another photo of him taken recently from the front - the little gem! (sat on a very small child's chair)..

The other two stamps are designed by a very old friend of mine (lol) - Linda Edwards in a similar style to her last releases CI-385 and CI-395, which you liked so much...

Here are CI-422 and CI-423:

And I'll add a few quickie makes that I've put together:

 

...More to follow.

We have also added some new Must Haves, which can also be found Here.

Do come and say hello at the Show!

To finish off tonight I am going to add some fabby makes by lovely Lynne, in her new cool contemporary style.  These are not using the new stamps as yet, but I'm sure we will have some with those too soon (no pressure then Lynne!)..

Turtles at the top, by Alice Palace, CI-413, and penguins below, again by Alice, CI-392

Many thanks for joining us here tonight,

Love you lots,

Jean x




 

MORE MAGICAL MAKES.....

Thanks to everyone who left comments on my last post, and for all the likes on the accompanying Facebook page entry.  I had fun at the class in Middlesbrough (run by Sue Tucker), with Finnabair; however I need to 'play' some more with my make before I will be happy with it, as we ran out of time in the class (don't you always!).  So you might have to wait a while longer to see the results - need to add more colour!

Tonight I have some more lovely makes to show you from 'the team', starting with this stunning card by Joanna made with our 'Feathered Friends' CI-416.  Joanna turned this pretty stamp into a Christmas card, and it looks simply perfect....

Daniele has also been enjoying the same stamp and has made this beautiful card (incorporating the wording from one of Gio's lovelies)...

Daniele made another card with the bicycle stamp CI-417 too - delicious....

Helen has used the little birds stamp to decorate a bottle in a delightful fashion...

.... the tulips are from CI-388.  And Helen has decorated another two bottles with CI stamps...

This one with CI-347, and the following with CI-403....

Lush!

Coco has used the little birds again in these two creative cards...

And Sylvie has sent over a beautiful blue card featuring the hat lady from CI-414....

The stencilled leaves in the background are made with one of our Masks - Leafy Branches, 
and the silver filigree corners you will find Here.

I made a card with the same lady, which I must confess is almost a complete copy of an earlier card shown by Daniele - oh but I did love it so!!

(Leaves to be found Here). And I thought it would make a very nice class (which is tomorrow).

Thanks for joining me tonight,

Back soon,

Jean x

I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE....

Actually its a very long time since I rode a bicycle I must admit - although they do say that you never forget how to do it!  But this bicycle is a very pretty one, and is one of our most recent releases....

I have gathered together some lovely makes by the team featuring this stamp CI-417 'Country Days', and will pop the images below, plus a step by step by Gio, which also features this stamp in miniature..

Adoring this easel card by Joanna - sooo very pretty...

Followed by a beautiful and colourful mini canvas from Sylvie..

(Also featuring an MDF Birdcage from our Must Haves and the little birds from CI-416)

Now I have a couple of cool cards from Helen, one using Gelatos I believe (and our mask 'Leafy Branches')....

Plus a simple and effective one layer card with the same stamp..

Then here is the step by step by Gio - showing you how she made an old clock surround into this perfectly pretty piece of art...

And this is how she went about making it...
-Stamp the bicycle from the CI-417 on a piece of shrink plastic 

-Heat the shrink plastic until it shrinks and then colour it with some Distress Inks 

-Paint the old metal clock with metallic acrylic paints
-Spread some texture paste through the Leafy Branches' Mask 
 

-Stamp the image from CI-416 on tissue paper 

-Glue the tissue paper to a piece of cardstock on reverse to get the image flipped and colour it with    some Distress Inks 

-Stamp the image from CI-419 'Lovely Day' on canvas and colour it with some Distress Inks, use mask 'Beautiful Butterflies Panel' to add some more colour to the side 

-Insert the canvas into the clock, glue the birds and the bicycle to the border of the clock,

And here is the lovely finished article again..

Hope you have enjoyed the display tonight?! - with one more little thing to add - I am going to attend a workshop with the very talented Finnabair next Saturday.  We have been asked to take a sized B&W photograph with us to build our make around.  I thought it more appropriate that I take a stamped image with me, so I have created my own 'B&W photograph'.  Therefore this is the 'before the class' image (its quite tricky colouring in shades of grey and black I found!), and I will show you what happened to it after the class at soon as I can - exciting!

Bye for now, comments always much appreciated!

Jean x