Crafty Individuals Blog

FEBRUARY CHALLENGE WINNERS, AND AN APRIL ISSUE OF CRAFT STAMPER ..

2012-03-03T14:07:00.001-08:00

Malcolm was in charge of the February Challenge, and he picked 'Spring' as a theme. We had 36 fabulous entries which you can check out at the bottom of the post HERE, and they were all sooo good he couldn't make a decision. He whittled the choices down to around 11, and then we had to kind of choose the five by rolling the dice. His comment was 'its hard this judging lark!'.

So here are the final five - well done, and thanks to everyone who joined in to make the Challenge a success.

Izzwizz - loving those dangly charms!

May - Great colours - check out how she went about making this tag on her blog -

KJJC - Great idea, and very pretty -

Giogio - Another very original idea - loving those textiles -

And Kath - a great combination of grunge and loveliness -

As usual ladies if you would send us an email to info@craftyindividuals.co.uk with your choice of stamp, plus your address, we will be delighted to send it out immediately. Thanks again.

The next Challenge will be starting at the beginning of April and I hope you will be joining us then.

Just to finish tonight I would like to say in an 'over the moon' sort of way that one of my own projects has made the front cover of the April issue of Craft Stamper - and I am totally delighted, of course. It is a decorated mini Tando Printer Tray which you will find on the CI Website in the 'MUST HAVES' section, and it features several of our stamps and papers. There are also lots of other great projects inside, and you will find the magazine for sale on our Website HERE. The mag is definitely a must have for anyone interested in stamping!!

Bye for now.

Jean x

WE HAVE A NEW LOVELY LITTLE FACEBOOK STORE, AND SOME MORE LOVELY PROJECTS TO SHARE TONIGHT!

2012-02-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

We have just gone live with our new little Facebook store - and it is just sooo cute, so please have a look at it here: http://apps.facebook.com/crafty-individuals and do let us know if you like it. It features 30 of our most popular stamp designs, and they can actually be purchased on there using the normal payment methods. Maybe you could be our very first customer - which gives me an idea too! Our first three customers will also receive a few extra gifts as well to get the ball rolling, so do join in the fun if you can.

Now on to showing you some more mouth watering visual images. Helen Chilton has made a couple more gorgeous Spring Challenge (still time to enter!) projects to inspire us all. The first project 'London in the Spring' uses our two recently released 'Great Britain' sets of stamps CI-343 and CI-334 in a fabulous 'sprayed' colour scheme:

Very patriotic and I love the bunting touch!

Helen has also made a very pretty tag with CI-338 using oil pastels in the background (note to self - must re-find my oil pastels!)

I also have one of Lynne's very lovely delicate projects on my desktop to show you using the very same stamp, which I will download below:

Plus a close-up -

Two very different but equally gorgeous looks with the same stamp. Both ladies have used elements from CI-342 (those lovely hearts again) to make a background.

I also have a couple of adorable card images to show you sent over by two of our customers. The first is from Angela at Angela's Ink Spot which would also fit very nicely into the Spring Challenge theme idea:

And the second is from a lady called Monika from Finland who sent this image over to us on 14th February. In Finland our Valentine's Day is called Friend's Day, and Monika made this lovely card for her friends (that's us!) - what a nice idea, thanks Monika.

Still lots more to come - but nice clean bedding beckons tonight, so I'm off for a nice warm bath, and a nice warm bed now, before its back to work tomorrow.

Nite all, sleep well,

Jean x

WHO HAS WON THOSE LOVELY HEARTS?

2012-02-19T13:36:00.001-08:00

Well I can now tell you! Thanks to all who took the time to leave a comment - so very kind of you. We have 3 winners who will each get a set of the hearts on elements plate CI-342:

Comment number 3 - kjjc
Comment 22 - Mirka
Comment 34 - Deborah

If you are one of the 3 names mentioned above please email us (contact details are on the website), with your address details, and a set of hearts will be on its way out to you poste haste. Enjoy!

Still on the heart subject I have some more scrummy projects to show you below. Isabelle has been busy decorating Valentine's gifts and has sent over the beautiful pictures I can show you here -

A close up peek first:

And then the full thing - how nice to receive some chocs wrapped like this ..

Plus a second pack - mmmm could just eat those right now!

Isabelle also made this lovely gift out of a Tando kit, and our heart stamps:

Lynne Moncrieff also directed me to one of my favourite blogs at Ephemera's Attic,
where lo and behold I found more hearts -

And whilst I was there I also spotted this beautiful card -

Hope Paula doesn't mind that I shared these with you, but they are too pretty not to be noticed.

Plus a final heart for tonight from Helen Chilton's lovely blog. I wonder who the lucky recipient of this beauty was?!

Keep checking our Challenge entries at the bottom of our blog post HERE - we have some great ones coming in. Still time to join in folks!

Bye for now,

Jean x

IS IT NEARLY SPRING YET?!

2012-02-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well you would think it was looking at all the lovely entries being linked in on our Challenge page which you will find HERE. Have a look at the thumbnails and then go and check out the participants blogs for a wealth of further crafting inspiration. However it is still cold and grim here in the North East of the UK - so I'm surrounding myself with tulips and daffodils in vases and pots, because I just love them, and at least it means it looks very spring like inside my home!!

I have some rather lovely items to blog tonight, and whilst on the subject of warmer weather I have a couple of seaside projects to display to get us going. The first is by DANIELE and is a gloriously colourful 'on the beach card', and I love it!

Daniele has used a couple of sheets from our Seaside Background Book, plus a clever use of stamp CI-302, and an image from Nostalgia Glossy Sheet 2 to assemble this pretty project.

The second seaside themed project is by lovely Di of Tando fame, who demoed a couple of projects recently at The Craft Barn, using our stamps and Tando Mini Stages - which we have for sale in our Must Have Section, along with lots of other good stuff! Take a look at the Tando Blog for lots more Tando type projects.

Loving this - using our elements stamp CI-272! Di also demoed the tall stage featured below:

Great colour schemes in these projects, and CI-332 used to great effect in this one.

Incidentally I am running a class at the Craft Barn in June, and also demoing at this their 2012 Extravaganza, which will be great fun as always I'm sure. And the whole weekend Extravaganza is well worth a trip to leafy Surrey. You will find info about the weekend on their website HERE - it would be great to meet you there!

I have recently been mooching around a great blog by Lee of CRAFTY LOOPS - you must have a look at her great flower making tutorials, and I also adore the Stick Pins she makes so beautifully. Well Lee also decorated a compartment tray using CI products which I am featuring below:

Lots of details in there Lee!

Finally I want to show you a few items by Lynne of ADORN which are just fabulous. I am just so taken with the card below - don't you just looove our new king!

With a couple of close-ups -

And another patriotic card in a similar style:

Wow!

Its Valentine's Day tomorrow and if you would like the chance to win a set of CI hearts (pictured below) - then leave a comment please and you might just be picked to be the lucky recipient of one of the three sets we have to giveaway!!

With a set of these you could be creating gorgeous cards like the one below, again by Lynne of Adorn.

Jean x

IT'S NEARLY VALENTINE'S DAY ..........

2012-02-08T14:59:00.000-08:00

And as the fabulous Joanne Wardle (of Craft Stamper fame) has recently posted a simply beautiful card using our new 'Elements' rubber stamp CI-342 I thought I would share it with you in time for the big day - 14th February. Check out Joanne's blog as she has some great ideas!

I have lots of other lovely items to show you waiting in the wings, so I will make a start with a few more today. I have several projects so beautifully made by Lynne on my computer desktop, two of which I will insert below:

The first is a postcard made with stamp CI-335 -

And the second is some pretty and delicate inspiration for you relating to our current Challenge entitled 'Spring'. To join in our Challenge add your Spring project link to the bottom of the post which you will find HERE.

Loving that hydrangea head detail! Thanks Lynne.

Now I have a very lovely lacy piece sent over to us by Maureen to show you - mmmm!

Look at all that decoration, and you know how much I love that lace! Very vintage! Maureen has used CI-331 in this project.

Lastly tonight I have two projects by Isabelle, both of which could be interpreted as some more 'Spring' inspiration, as they are very pretty and gentle.

Isabelle has used CI-301 in making this card.

She has also made another printer tray look delightful, this time the Mini House Tray from our 'Must Have' section:

Lots of our stamps and images and papers appearing in this house full of goodies, so why not check out our website online store HERE, and see how many goodies you can spot today!

More to post soon!

Jean x

OUR FIRST CHALLENGE OF 2012 STARTS TODAY ...

2012-02-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

A little late, but not too late all things considered, to give you the details of our now bi-monthly Challenge - the first one of 2012. However before I begin I must just mention that the new issue of Craft Stamper is again featuring lots of lovely projects to feast your eyes on, and also has several great articles concentrating on different ways of using CI products by Louise Crosbie - Zuzu's, Helen Chilton, and Riet van Zundert. There is also a mini project by me too. You can order a copy of Craft Stamper from us HERE - definitely a 'must-have' item in your crafting life.

Anyway back to the Challenge for February - Malcolm is in charge this time, and Malcolm just loathes Winter! So he has chosen the theme of 'Spring' which you can interpret in your own way as long as you incorporate one or more Crafty Individuals products in your design please. We would be sooo happy if you can join us this month to kick off 2012 in true crafting fashion - so no excuses, just get those fingers inky and your craft table messy, and play along with us - there are prizes to be won!

You will be able to submit your designs up until midnight on 28th February using the usual inlinkz tool and I will paste the general guidelines below:

.....

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

To enter this month's Crafty Individuals Challenge please put together your project, following the subject matter outlined in this post (your project 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, then leave a link in the URL box to take us directly to your Challenge Project, etc., which will appear here on this blog as if by magic, as a thumbnail image - so that we can all see your wonderful work.

At the end of the Challenge the CI Team and/or guests will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will be invited to choose a CI rubber stamp from our large range.

Go for it and enjoy the Challenge x

.....

And now I have some inspiration for you to get you thinking:

My own offering today is a little stage set - the Tall one, from Tando - which you can purchase on our website HERE:

A floral fantasy in which I have used pages from our 'Shades of Summer' mini background book, hand dyed silk ribbons, and lace and images from 3 of our rubber 'Elements' plates - CI-292, CI-206, and CI-329, plus some hand dyed muslin and stick pins.

Had great fun with that!

Next I have 2 very pretty cards sent over by Kim Woods where she has incorporated elements of CI-334 in the first card, and the whole of CI-320 in the second one:

Nice colours Kim!

A springtime butterfly lady is our next offering from Lucy Edmondson, so very joyful Lucy!

Lucy has used our Springtime Background Book plus stamps CI-235, CI-258 and CI-108 in her 'flight of fancy' project.

Helen Chilton has decorated a slide mailer to make a very pretty springtime gift for a lucky lady:

Helen has incorporated pages from our mini books plus stamping from CI-226 and CI-207 here.

Now I have a delightful creation from Sue at Paper Paradise -

Always loving Sue's work - and all I'm going to say here is that she has used lots of our stamps (I've run out of linking puff!) in a totally 'Spring' hanging.

And my final images tonight are from Carol (Ginger), who has come up with an amazing creation using the word 'Spring' in an interpretation of her very own - Wow!

A very unique use of CI-333 - very Steampunky and springy!!!

Now its over to you - looking forward to seeing your 'Spring' ideas.

Back again soon,
Jean x

NO - THIS IS ACTUALLY MY LAST POST FOR JANUARY ..

2012-01-31T14:51:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't think I would be feeling this well so soon. How surgery has changed over the years and is now a completely different experience from even ten years ago, and I certainly feel a lot better than when I went into hospital that's for sure, so if you have an op coming up I would say to feel positive about it.

Whilst I have been otherwise occupied our new selection of goodies has been released - I hope you received your email outlining the fabby new stamps and truly 'must have' items. However I also thought I would make a post tonight showing you a few of the new releases and three of the items I made with them before their release.

I used a couple of the new rubber stamps from the INDIVIDUALS Collection to make the tags below:

I used CI-338 as my focal image on this tag. I also used a SHABBY TAG and LACE in my creation - the new lace also dyes beautifully with spray dies! I overstamped the shabby tag with CI-171 before embellishing.

The second tag features CI-343 and was made in a similar fashion to the first tag:

As this is a big year for the UK we thought we would help celebrate with another very 'British' stamp. The London postmark is from CI-124.

Loving that crown!

I also made a little stage set with one of the totally scrummy new Tando layered stages which you will find HERE. These are a totally new addition to their range and I LOOOVE them - so many possibilities, so little time!!!

Great for building up a little picture story - mine is about a street party here in the UK, and hopefully we will be seeing a few of these this year - don't you just love her glum little face - so reminds me of me at that age!

I have used quite a few of our stamps in this set as you will see, and I have also added two different die cuts using another new 'must have' addition from Memory Box, the WOVEN CIRCLE and the FREMONT CREST. These are wonderful metal dies on a nice small scale that compliment our stamps beautifully, and work in pretty much all the home die machines on the market.

Do try the stage sets outs, you can get lots of depth going on and be extremely imaginative. Show us what you come up with!

I am now going to put up some of the images of the new products themselves to get your creative thoughts flowing starting with the new rubber -

Now a little peak at the Tulle Lace and Chiffon Flowers -

A couple of the Tando Products -

And a little selection of four of the new Memory Box Dies -

As you can see the two butterflies work together to make a lovely addition to your handmade project.

Check out our WEBSITE for the rest of the new items, or one of the many shops that sell our products which you will find LISTED HERE.

Furthermore if you place an order on our website soon you will receive a pack of three frame charms absolutely free -and how can you possibly live without these in your life?!

And now I am being ordered to get to my bed and rest. So that's it for tonight. Back soon with details of the February Challenge.

Goodnight!

Jean x

LAST POST FOR JANUARY!?

2012-01-24T13:25:00.000-08:00

I have some projects to show you tonight that have been sent over by the team recently - thanks so much ladies, you are so kind - hopefully they will brighten our lives on an otherwise dull, wet January day (at least it has been here on the east side of the country). Must also thank you all for the continuing encouraging and caring comments you are leaving on a regular basis - they certainly do warm my heart!

I am going to show you one of two projects I have here by lovely LYNNE - the other will follow at a slightly later date. This project uses stamp CI-336 and postmarks from CI-122 & CI-124 to adorn a stunning hanging so beautifully:

Nice bit of recycling going on there too! Check out the close-ups (I like close-ups!) -

Then I have one of two printer trays sent over by lovely ISABELLE, where she has used the same hot air balloon stamp as above (and I notice she has a fabulous tag on her site too just now, made with our stamps - so do pay her a visit soon!):

Plus close-ups -

Lots of texture, and loving the rich shiny red on that balloon.

There are of course a few more of our stamps appearing on this tray including CI-221, CI-334 and CI-237 amongst others - very nice!

And I think to finish the display I will show you a lovely creation with a truly patriotic feel by lovely HELEN (lovely being the word of the day I think!) -

This will probably be my last post for January as I am off into hospital tomorrow for a thyroid operation (aaaagh - murmured in a weak small voice!). I will be back blogging again as soon as I can and of course we will be having the February Challenge soon - although it may be a little later in starting than the 1st of the month this time, so please bear with me.

Also there will be new stamps out very, very soon - to be ably dispatched quickly to their recipients by Malcolm and Kay, plus some must, 'must-have' new products which we think you are going to love. Watch out for the email, which will also have some info about a little crafting holiday you might like to join us on in March.

Goodnight All.

Jean x

WE HAVE 4 BLOG CANDY WINNERS TO PRESENT WITH THEIR GOODIES ...

2012-01-19T15:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who entered the puzzle featured in my last post, and I can now announce the 4 winners of the blog candy packs. There were 85 correct entries!!!! - and Malcolm chose 4 random numbers (1, 18, 37 and 68), then we counted down the list, and here are the winners:

1. Irene Chillman from Surrey
2. Marjan Nielsen from USA
3. Daphne Vos from Netherlands
4. Joanne Glaysher from Kent

As I think we have all your addresses on your emails your candy will be winging its way to you very shortly - Enjoy!

As lots of you realised the stamp section shown was from an 'Elements' stamp CI-293, and lovely Sam Read sent over this very pretty little image made with that very same stamp with her entry, so I felt I just had to blog it:

Incidentally Sam also has a great project in the most recent issue of Craft Stamper - perfect for a little Valentine's gift. And whilst I am on the subject of Craft Stamper another very talented lady who regularly has projects in there is Liesbeth Fidder from the Netherlands, who has written a Masterclass Tags project using our products, so please do check out her fabulous and inspiring BLOG. I have just 'pinched' this domino book project from the top of her blog to show you now (hope she doesn't mind!):

How pretty is that - roll on Summer I say!!

Before I go I will just show you three more very lovely projects by the 'Team'. First off a great chunky ATC (love these - must make one - soon!) by Ginger:

Ginger has used CI-336 on here - wow!

Now an adorable decorated matchbox by Lynne (more by Lynne on here soon):

Plus a view of the reverse and the sides:

Soo pretty, using CI-335.

And last, but not least, as the saying goes, a great calendar hanging by Isabelle, using the same stamp - delicious!

Thanks very much ladies.

Have a lovely weekend all!

Jean x

TAGS AND OTHER ARTY STUFF, PLUS A PUZZLE FOR YOU ......

2012-01-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

Hope you are all having a fun weekend - its been cold but quite pleasant here in the UK today, a pretty nice winter's day all in all! I have some more projects to show you and then I want to give away some blog candy as promised - however you will have to work a little bit for it this time!!!

My first project is a very lacy tag of birds and birdcages made by myself - I'm not totally happy with this one, not sure why really, but Malcolm and Kay like it so here it is:

The stamps I used are all from CI-329, which is a mini plate that I really like using, and I have added lots of lace, ribbons, dangly bead trimmings, a bird cage charm, and an earring.

And whilst on the subject of tags I have one from Isabelle which is also predominantly blues (probably my favourite colour), and Isabelle has used CI-331 and some of our background papers here:

More projects from Isabelle in my next post.

Now I have two very colourful projects spotted on Helen's Blog using stamps CI-333 and CI-336 - great colour scheme and layouts:

And finally I have 3 lovely projects that have been waiting in the wings since before Christmas - a delightful hanging by Lynne , followed by a really sweet box by Ginger, and then a beautifully stamped card using stamp CI-319 (spooky!) by Joanne Wardle:

Thanks to all for sharing, and do check out the latest Craft Stamper available on the CI Website HERE for some great projects using our products, including one by Jean Franks Beck, who's BLOG has been on my favourites list for quite some time, so go visit her and enjoy!

Now we have reached the end for this evening I am going to set you a little puzzle. We have FOUR - yes FOUR! - sets of BLOG CANDY available to win starting tonight. These are the sets below, and we might just add a brand new stamp (not yet released) to each set before they are sent out - these are so 'top secret' that I can't show you them here yet.

So if you would like one of the sets above, PLUS a BRAND NEW STAMP as well, then you will have to tell us the CI number of the stamp that this little section belongs to. You might find the stamp in the Individuals Collection or in the Crafty Elements section.

When you think you know the answer please email it to us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk, and include your name and address (so that we can send you your prize), and we will pick out 4 correct answers at random to win these great packs of goodies. You have until next Wednesday evening (18th January) to send in your answer.

Good Luck!

Jean x

LOTS OF IMAGES TO SHOW YOU TONIGHT

2012-01-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all the lovely comments you have been leaving; they are a pleasure to read, and I'm delighted you are enjoying the project images I'm posting on a regular basis - so please keep keeping in touch!

I have rather a lot of images to show you tonight (with more waiting in the wings), so without further ado lets crack on. You are loving our new 'all things British' stamp CI-334, and I have made a little card featuring my take on the Union Jack (and I added the little robin from CI-329):

Then I had a play with stamp CI-333, and made a triptych card. Firstly I sprayed dye inks over a piece of open weave lace fabric, using the lace as the stencil - I often do this it makes an interesting background. I then stamped over as shown:

I also used stamps CI-017 and CI-182 on the side panels (both of which I still use regularly), plus a stamp from CI-308 (another useful set of stamps).

Some close-ups:

Now I have a card image sent over from lovely ISABELLE who has also been doing some great drawings and posting them on her blog lately - go check her out! In this card she used CI-336:

Nice masculine card - for the traveller in your life perhaps?! Thanks Isabelle.

Plus a couple of little ATC's from Sue Abbott again using the latest stamps:

As you can see from the above there are lots of different ways of using the same stamps - that is probably the beauty of stamping - I'm never really sure of the effect I will get before I get stamping, so it is very interesting to see what can be achieved with just one stamp by other crafters too. Which leads me onto the next set of pictures which were kindly loaned to us by a talented lady called Maureen, and you will find her beautiful blog HERE. Maureen is somewhat involved in a new shop venture at Barjanb Crafts in Leicestershire, and I hope it all goes well for them, they deserve it! Anyway Maureen has made several projects using CI-331 as the focal point which demonstrates clearly how there are lots of ways to use just one stamp. I love them all but the colours in the first one below are just divine, and she has also 'framed' the image to great effect too - will be using that idea myself (the frame has been embossed), plus there is padding under the skirt which looks gorgeous but both are hard to see in the photograph - Enjoy!! (And go visit the shop!)

And finally an adorable little bookmark:

Well all that uploading and linking has about worn me out for tonight - hope you have enjoyed the display? Check us out on FACEBOOK now too.

More to come soon, and I'd better sort out some more Blog Candy for you soon too I think.

Jean x

HAPPY NEW YEAR, AND A 'FOCUS ON' FEATURE

2012-01-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

Is it 2012 already - can anyone tell me what happened to the holidays? How quickly it all goes by and the children go back school/college/uni, and we go back to work! Happy New Year to all my readers and followers - I hope the year goes well for you, wherever you are and whatever you do.

At Crafty Individuals we are in the throes of a super discount week, but only if you are signed up to the mailing list, which appears on the home page. However it isn't too late to take advantage of the discounts; just sign up now and let us know that you have done so by email - info@craftyindividuals.co.uk - and we can send you the special code you will need to obtain your special discount. Lots and lots of you are taking advantage of the offer (and Malcolm is running around like the proverbial getting the orders together) so don't miss out please.

All that aside I want to make my first post of 2012 with a 'Focus On' feature about the lovely work of NEFERTITI (Scrapcool Blog), and the following images are four projects made by the lady herself which particularly feature CI products. If you want to see more please check out her blog HERE for more Scrapcool creations.

I will start with a project that particularly caught my eye within our November Challenge entries:

A lovely photo display piece using our stamps CI-193 and CI-292!

Next a fabulous framed project in stunning reds (I would never have attempted this colour scheme myself - but it does look stunning, don't you think?):

Stamps used here included CI-207, CI-208, and CI-323 in a very clever combination - loving that leaf flower.

Next a very decorative compartmented box:

Featuring CI-323 as above.

Now a charming tag in a pocket using the little children from CI-292 again:

And to finish off tonight a very recent addition to the Scrapcool Blog, a very crafty and deliciously decorated clock (... its high time I tackled another clock project me thinks!):

In this project images from our People and Places 1 book were used, which is now out of print. However there are lots of similarly lovely images in People and Places 2 to choose from if you take a peek.

Hope you have enjoyed that little crafting display as much as I have, and thanks to Nefertiti for letting me put the spotlight on her tonight.

Bye for now,

Jean x

DECEMBER CHALLENGE WINNERS..

2011-12-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a really nice Christmas - we did in this house, despite the occasional sibling rivalry that occurs from time to time when my boys get together - but I guess that's family life in all its glory for you!

We now have five lovely 'All Wrapped Up' winners - very carefully chosen by our super-talented Jo Capper-Sandon. Jo has also provided me with a beautifully worded summary about her choices and the reasons behind those choices - so over to Jo.........

'There may have been fewer entries due to the hectic time of year, but there was some wonderfully skilled work shown both by the team and the participants.

I found choosing just five very difficult. I'd be useless on X factor picking for boot camp. In the end I went for a wide and varied cross section on how people viewed 'All Wrapped Up' to be.

An entry I wish I'd made myself was a gift bag made by LAURY. It reminds me of a scrap page on a bag. I love the free feel to this with the painted area and frayed edge fabric:

This little Christmas Box by CARLA appeared at first glance from outside to be a delicately decorated box for a tiny gift, but on removing the lid burst open to reveal more wonderful Christmas Crafty Individuals images, using every surface to the full:

SAM READ brought a twist to the theme by using her process of applying colour as the 'All Wrapped Up'. By wrapping the card in cling film Sam achieved a paint effect as a background for the 'Rudolf' card. Sam also showed us what really goes on in that creative head of hers by adding a second image too, lol:

A little sewing gift pouch was brought to us by ZOEY. Perfect for those odds and ends that get mislaid so easily and always good for an emergency sewing task. The stamped images were finished off beautifully with a pearl headed pin (I love to see little details like that):

And finally, last but not least, this was the 'Ratatouille' moment for me (if you've seen the Disney film you'll know what I mean when Ego tastes the Ratatouille). This tag by TRISH LATIMER reminded me of frost patterning on the inside of windows when I was a child living up north in the days before central heating became the norm. Trish has captured the winter feel perfectly, makes me shiver (in a good way!) just by looking at it:

I wish I could have chosen you all. It was a tough job. Congratulations to the five!'

So there we are with the last Challenge of 2011 - thanks to all who entered, and to everyone who supports us with their fabulous entries, hope you will join in with us again in 2012. If you are one of the ladies named above please get in touch with us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk to claim a rubber stamp of your choice.

However we have been discussing the timing of the Challenges and have now decided to run them on a bi-monthly basis in 2012, as we think it is going to be tricky all round keeping up with the monthly plan - those month ends come around so very quickly. That means there will be just five or six Challenges next year and you will get a full month to assemble your entries. So no excuses folks - keep those crafting fingers busy and help make the gallery of entries bigger and better than ever in the New Year.

The next Challenge will commence at the beginning of February all being well - so do watch this space!

If you are signed up to the CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS Website Mailing List watch out for a great deal coming very soon especially for you - and if you haven't signed up to it yet go do it now and join in the fun.

Chat to you all again in the early New Year - we wish you all a mellow and peaceful 2012!

Jean x

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

2011-12-22T15:40:00.000-08:00

This is my last post now before Christmas and I just want to wish you all a Happy Christmas, and thank you so much for your support, and lovely comments over the last few years. Hope you have got nicely to grips with the last bits of the shopping - well nearly anyway, and are now settling down to enjoy the holiday. I think I had also better post images of the last of my stack of Christmassy craft projects still waiting on my computer desktop before it is just too late.

I adore these lovely tags and card made by Isabelle Norris over in Canada. I think Isabelle has got in touch with her grungy side this time and it really suits her.

Check out our Elements stamps page for the trees used here.

Then 2 beautiful tags with close-ups:

How are those for lots of glittery gorgeousness?!

Now a lovely idea by Ginger who has acquired a bit of an obsession with decorating little wooden blocks. In the project below she has used images from our Christmas Miniature Books:

A very nice alternative Christmas decoration me thinks - will be working on that idea myself at some point!

Now just before I go I want to let you know that Isabelle has also very kindly set up a Facebook page for us, and we would love you to check it out, and leave comments when you get the chance. I am still on a learning curve about Facebook - its a new experience for me, so your help in making it interesting would be very welcome. You will find the new CI page HERE.

Note: Just 2 days to go to get your 'all wrapped up' project linked up on the Challenge Page!

I think that is about it for tonight - Merry Christmas everyone!

Jean x

LOTS MORE PROJECTS TO SHOW YOU....

2011-12-15T15:15:00.000-08:00

I have lots of projects stacking up to show you, so I thought I had better make a start tonight with a few of them to begin with.

Firstly a dangly heart project I made with our new plate CI-335 - I really, really, like this plate of girly things.

I actually made this for a Craft Stamper article - but made it in completely the wrong colours (not what was asked for - note to self - must read instructions!). So this is the reject.

You may be able to see the stitching around some of the edges on my heart project. I am just loving an old Singer sewing machine we purchased in Saltburn in a charity shop. We bought the one below for our sewing plate CI-328. Malcolm photographed it and I made it into a stamp. I am now totally in love with these machines as they just adore stitching through paper and card and because they are hand operated rather than electric you can stitch nice and slowly too. One of the gentlemen involved with the charity shop has a passion for servicing the old sewing machines so all the models they sell work beautifully, and you can pick one up for around £30 - £40. I now have TWO - so may be starting a collection I feel! If you would be interested please get in touch and I can give you the name of the shop and other details - I believe there are two little beauties in stock at the moment, and its all for a good cause too.

On the subject of our latest stamp releases Lynne sent me over a couple of card images where she has used stamp CI-333 to great effect.

Very delicate and pretty!

Lynne has also made another 'all wrapped up' project as inspiration for our current CHALLENGE. Entries are a bit on the slow side this month, but I guess that is only to be expected as you will all be involved with the Christmas side of things. However this does mean that you will have a greater chance of winning one of the 5 prizes if you give it a go. Still nine days left to get crafting! Here is Lynnes lovely project - a Christmas pillow box.

Finally tonight I want to show you a fabulous box made by Isabelle. She made this as a present for her father - and I'm sure he was 'over the moon' to get this!

The beaky birds Isabelle used on this gorgeous box were from stamps CI-265 and CI-266. Check out Isabelle's BLOG for more details about how she went about creating the decorative effects used on the box. Thanks for sharing Isa!

Back soon folks.

Jean x

SIMPLE AND QUICK(ISH) CHRISTMAS CARDS

2011-12-09T11:59:00.001-08:00

Thought I had better drop in a brief post (before it has been and gone), showing you some Christmas cards - some made by myself and some by ISABELLE in Canada. Isabelle has more on her blog HERE. All of the cards were made in a pretty quick and simple way - which can only be good at this time of the year can't it?

I used Christmas themed stamps from our INDIVIDUALS COLLECTION, some older images and some new, and added glittery sparkly bits and glittery die cuts, and the card background itself I cut from a ready decorated card sheet (DCWV pad) - which makes the whole thing quick and easy. The cards measure around 4" square.

Plus a few close-ups:

And from Isabelle:

And I particularly love this one:

Do check out Isabelle's lovely BLOG for more cards and ideas.

I'm off to make some more now - still lots to do!

Jean x

MORE 'ALL WRAPPED UP' CRAFTY PROJECTS...

2011-12-07T12:54:00.001-08:00

I think it is well time that I showed you some more 'team' projects on the theme of 'All Wrapped Up', which is our current Crafty Individuals Challenge topic. We are already getting some lovely entries HERE, but there is still lots of time to get your project made and linked in (17days to go!). So to give you some more food for thought I have some lovely 'all wrapped up' piccies below, using Crafty Individuals products.

Firstly a very Christmassy exploding box by our talented Helen Chilton. Helen was in recycling mode for this one - check out her BLOG for more pics and info - hope she doesn't mind but I had a bit of a play with the background (just for fun).

And the inside .....

How amazingly cool is that?!

ZUZU also did some recycling with her project too, and re-decorated a toiletries box in delicious colours:

And

It does seem recycling is the order of the month as LYNNE recycled a Primark bag in this lovely project:

ISABELLE is getting ready for Christmas with her beautifully decorated boxes (and she has a template available for you on her BLOG too which can be found in her post about the boxes).

GINGER made a very Santa filled money envelope (nice idea!) in her 'all wrapped up' project:

SUE has concentrated on wrapping paper and tags in her inspiring projects, and there are more pics and info on her blog HERE.

And the tags...

All very festive!

LUCY has decorated some adorable little gift bags for us to enjoy:

KIM has been busy decorating a little jar, and making some rather funky gift tags, in her themed projects:

Well that's about it for tonight folks, hope you have enjoyed the display, and you are now extremely inspired and ready to join in with the Challenge.

One last image to finish, which was sent over by JO, which is so very festive - a photo of her little squash book hanging on her Christmas tree. If you check out Jo's Blog HERE you will find a You Tube link about how to set about making a squash book too.

Bye for now,

Jean x

1st DECEMBER, AND A NEW CHALLENGE...

2011-12-01T11:11:00.001-08:00

Well we are now truly into the serious run up to Christmas - hope you are getting to grips with the preparations! It is time for the December Challenge to begin and Jo Capper-Sandon is in charge this month. So I'm delighted to say she has come up with a lovely theme for us - 'All Wrapped Up'. Jo is encouraging you to use Crafty Individuals products to make wrapping paper, or a gift bag/box/tags, or whatever else you can think of that the theme might suggest. Jo will also be choosing the five winners after the closing date of 25th December, and we are very excited to see what you all come up with this time around - and maybe it will help with your Christmas crafting too. We do hope you will join in the fun - and maybe you will get to choose a stamp from our collection as your prize.

Please note: As this is a Crafty Individuals Challenge you will need to include at least one Crafty Individuals product in your submission project.

You will be able to submit your entry up until midnight on 25th December, and we are so looking forward to seeing your artwork.
As usual I will paste the general guidelines below:

.....

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

To enter this month’s Crafty IndividualsChallenge please put together your project, following the subject materialoutlined below (your project should include at least one Crafty Individualsproduct please), then:

Post your challenge project on your blog,before the 25^th of the month, and include a link back to this blog,

Leave a link in the URL box to take usdirectly to your challenge project, etc. – which will then appear here on thisblog as a thumbnail image – so we can all see your wonderful work.

At the end of the month the CI team and/orguests will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will win aCI rubber stamp of their choice.

Go for it and enjoy the challenge x

.....

As far as inspiration goes - to get you started, I have quite a lot of beautiful images to show you from the 'CI Team', so I will pop a couple of projects down tonight, and will follow up with more very soon.

Firstly I will show you Jo's contribution which is a very lovely and unique 2" square squash book, held together with ribbon and a tag, and decorated all over with Crafty Individuals Christmassy stamped images. Jo also thought it would be nice to put some family photos on some of the squares too, and even make a little box to put it in - you will find more details about the project on her BLOG soon.

And the inside:

Very lovely, as is all Jo's work!

Then as I was so late with my offering last time I thought I had better get in there quickly this time. My project involves a simple open topped box shape made from thick card, with a cover made to suit. You can use this format to present any small square/oblong gift - just measure your gift and make up to suit. Mine was made to contain a little box of belgian chocolates, but I'm also thinking soaps, box of make-up, cd, computer game, etc., and decorated to suit the recipient. I used papers from our Shades of Summer Background Book, and images from stamps CI-257 and CI-326, embossed in white, to decorate, and I made a little flap with velcro to hold down the lid.

And the inside:

That's me just about worn out for tonight - except I'll just add a lovely little tealight holder from Helen Chilton to close - I want this on my mantelpiece at Christmas - simple and very effective!

Bye, bye, back soon.

Jean x

NEW STAMPS AND MUST-HAVES NOW AVAILABLE!

2011-11-29T13:41:00.001-08:00

As lots of you will realise (if you are signed up to the mailing list on the Crafty Individuals Website) we now have four new stamps and some new 'must-haves' freshly released, which you do seem to be liking!

The four new stamps are as follows:

CI-333

CI-336

CI-334

and CI-335

We also have some beautiful new hand-dyed ribbons available, some pretty shell buttons, and some wooden shapes with magnets, all of which can be found in the 'Must-Haves' section HERE.

And finally not forgetting Malcolm's lovely photographs in A3 size which can be found in the Art Shop HERE, and would make great Christmas presents for a loved one.

I thought you might like to see a few projects I have made using the new stamps and other products, so here we go.

Two cards made with the new stamps -

and

Followed by a dangly calendar to remind me to keep stress at bay and think of England next year -

Then some items I made with the wooden shapes, where I turned one of our patterned tags into a gift complete with easily removable fridge magnet. The magnets that come with the pack of shapes also work as a pair, so if you glue one piece to the back of your tag in the appropriate place and the other to the back of your wooden shape, and cut a small hole in your tag as shown, the wooden shape will hold to the tag all by itself. Just another little and cool idea for your handmade Christmas this year!

And the workings -

Another one:

Plus a little bird magnet on its own:

Let me know what you think!
That's all for tonight folks - back soon with the new challenge details, and more ideas for crafty project making!

Jean x

LYNNE HAS SELECTED HER 5 NOVEMBER CHALLENGE WINNERS ...

2011-11-28T12:48:00.001-08:00

Thanks to all who submitted their wonderful entries for the November Challenge and we can now give you the names of the 'Winter Wonderland' Challenge worthy winners, as kindly chosen by Lynne Moncrieff. So without further ado I will show you the beautiful projects below, and will paste Lynne's own comments underneath each project:

From Scrapekatten - A beautiful winter's tag:

'Great use of a non-Christmas stamp, still achieving a beautiful, wintery effect on her lovely tag.'

From Paula - A very lovely canvas:

'Very imaginative use of CI stamps and products.'

From Ann B - Another lovely canvas with a very wintery feel:

'Clever use of stamps to create a painterly effect of a Winter Wonderland.'

From Maggie - A gorgeous decoration for the festive season:

'Beautiful, ethereal look to her winter decoration.'

And from Florence - Her first Christmas card creation, and such a little beauty!

'Gorgeous, nostalgic feel to this card.'

Hope you will join us in giving them all a big pat on the back, and as ever if you would email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk please, giving us your choice of stamp ladies, we will send you your gift just as soon as is possible. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for details about the next Challenge for December in a few days time, and we hope you will join us again by linking in your lovely projects.

Before then, hopefully, I will be back with a posting about the new stamps, and other products we have just released over at www.craftyindividuals.co.uk.

Bye for now.

Jean x

WINNERS - WOW 72 LOVELY COMMENTS!

2011-11-23T12:16:00.001-08:00

What an amazing response - thanks all followers! Here I am sat on the landing upstairs (that's where my computer is at home) reading all these lovely comments. How amazing it is that this blog can reach you all out there - how incredible is the Internet?!

Well anyway I have picked out 4 comment owners randomly from the long list, and here they are:

Neil, Craftimamma, Crafty mop and jac777

If you would kindly email your address to us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk, and your choice of CI Stamp, we would be delighted to send it out to you, and include some other bits and bobs too.

Thanks again all - there will be more giveaways to come in the future so keep tuning in.

This won't be a long post as I am oh so tired tonight, and we are off to Harrogate to check out the Knitting and Stitching show tomorrow - lovely fabrics and beads and stuff galore! Actually Malcolm will be off doing his own thing in the area somewhere as knitting and stitching isn't totally his idea of a good time! - I'm not a knitter, but I do love those pretty fabric projects - mmmmm.

However I will give you a little on the visual side of things before I sign off. Here is another Winter Wonderland project (just 2 days to go) by this month's Challenge coordinator lovely Lynne, with Rudolph rearing his so pretty little head again:

(Shhhh - don't tell anyone but this pretty packaging has the good old toilet roll tube as its centre)

And another prettily dear box project by Ginger, adding a touch of wintery sparkle:

Plus two more - non-Challenge themed projects - to finish. The first a rather gorgeous row of houses put together by Helen Chilton, who as well as being one of Craft Stamper's very popular project designers, has also started running her own classes at The Craft Barn (love that very crafty shop!). So if this project tickles your fancy then do join her there on Sunday, 22nd January. If we didn't live at the other end of the country I would be joining her there too for sure:

Now how could you not love that!

Finally a very sweet and clever little project by Lucy Edmondson - nice use of our hen stamp CI-289 Lucy!

Should be some new stuff out soon on our website at www.craftyindividuals.co.uk, so don't forget to sign up to the website mailing list so you will be the first to know when we release new stamps etc.

Have a great weekend!

Jean x

LOVELY FOLLOWERS' CANDY...

2011-11-19T14:11:00.001-08:00

As mentioned in my last post I now have 400+ lovely followers, and I would like to give a little reward to 4 of you. Actually I'd like to reward you all, but as that would probably bankrupt us, I'd better stick to 4 this time around. So if you would like to be in with a chance of being able to choose a particular CI stamp, and also have a few other little goodies enclosed with your stamp when we send it out, and you are a Follower of this Blog (you still have time to become a Follower if you are quick!), then leave a comment at the end of this post. We will then pick 4 random Follower Comments to win the prizes before I write my next post.

Now I will get on with giving you a little visual stimulation!

Decorated purses seem to be right on trend at the moment and I spotted this little beauty on Ephemera's Attic Blog. Paula is one very talented lady!

Lucy Edmondson has also been decorating little purses too - so check out her blog for other delights. Here is one of them ..

Very pretty!

Isabelle Norris has also been busy lately using our stamps in a very creative way involving matchboxes. How adorable is this little set of drawers?!

And a close up ..

Just loving all that lovely detail. Check out her BLOG for more pics and projects.

.....

There are six days left to get your 'Winter Wonderland' NOVEMBER CHALLENGE entries linked in folks, so you have still got enough time to make that wintery project sparkle, and I still have a few more projects left to show you made by the team.

Firstly three more adorable cards made by Sue Abbott - love them!

How particularly stunning is that last card?!

You will find most of the stamps used in the above projects on our website at www.craftyindividuals.co.uk either in the Individuals or Elements Section.

To close tonight thought I would just show you my little notebook on a tag gift idea again - this time with the addition of a miniature ball point pen - found in packs of ten recently in Aldi. Just makes the gift complete I reckon.

So don't forget to leave a comment. FOLLOWERS ONLY this time please. Much appreciated!

Jean x

AND AT LAST ..

2011-11-11T14:28:00.001-08:00

I can show you my inspirational contribution to the November Challenge theme as set by the lovely LYNNE - Winter Wonderland. I got very behind with this Challenge, but anyway here it is - eventually. I gave the photo a big of a wintery glow too ....

I used a Tando ROUND PRINTER TRAY for this project - I thought it would make a pretty good 'bauble' for the festive season. I hung some little glass hearts from the bottom, which I couldn't resist buying recently, and I used stamp CI-240 as my main image. I was very tempted to use old Rudolph instead, but resisted on this occasion. I added some little images from our MERRY CHRISTMAS IMAGE BOOK in frames here and there, plus snowflakes and sentiments from CI-138, and various embellishments. Hope you like?!

However I couldn't resist using Rudolph CI-332 and his delightful red nose, in my next little project. I think I can just about get away with this as a 'Winter Wonderland' offering, although the real idea behind it is relating to the 'homemade Christmas' theme I have had going in previous posts and is inspired by a project shown before made by Kim. I thought the little net covered bags of chocolate coins that are now in the shops, or similar, were perfectly suited to this idea, and actually as they seem to stand by themselves when decorated, would also make fantastic name/gift ideas for your Christmas dinner table (Tesco has a special offer on at the moment - two for £1) -

And another one along the same lines, using CI-142 and various die cuts -

I put my son's name on this one, so I had better make one poste haste for his brother too before I get accused of favouritism!!

And still in the vein of a handmade Christmas I have also made a crafted bottle hanger (inspired by Nikki LT's entry in our October Challenge) -

This uses paper from our Christmas Background Books and CI-142 again, which is always a very useful Christmas stamp to have around.

Finally tonight I have another Challenge inspirational image by lovely Lynne herself (come on Rudolph!), which is so very wonderlandish and soo pretty. Thanks Lynne.

Still more offerings stacked up to show you, but as I am now yawning my head off, I think it is an early bed tonight for me.

Must just mention though that the Followers total has just hit 400 - how amazing you all are - I think we might have to pick out one or two of you randomly to receive a thank you gift in my next post, by way of a celebration - I treasure you all!

Good night, sleep tight.

Jean x

WE HAVE TWO BLOG CANDY WINNERS.........

2011-11-06T12:43:00.000-08:00

Such a lot of lovely comments and emails! We have two blog candy winners to announce tonight. My youngest son picked a number between 1 and 51 (comments) - number 29, and if I've counted down correctly the winner in the comment candy list is THE SPARKLY FAIRY. Then for the email candy list Malcolm picked a number (number 17) from 28 emails, and the winner here is JENNY JEANSSON.

Thank you to all who left a comment or sent an email, and we would be delighted to post out the winning candies to the above ladies if you would kindly let us know your address asap - info@craftyindividuals.co.uk. Keep checking back folks for more blog candy in the weeks to come.

Anyway whilst I am in blog mode I want to quickly show you some more lovely, lovely inspiration for the current 'Winter Wonderland' Challenge. However it will have to be quickly listed as I only have an hour before the last episode of Downton Abbey (sob!), and my eldest son has come home from Uni just to watch it with me (now a family tradition!). However I think I read somewhere that there will be a Christmas special episode - goodie. So here goes with the 'inspiration' -

Firstly I must show you the sooo cool projects by our lovely Helen Chilton - had a bit of computer trouble getting hold of these, but finally here they are:

And:

Due to my shortage of time this evening I won't link in to all the website pages for the stamps, but if you have just stumbled upon my blog out of nowhere you will find all the stamps you need to make your own takes on the projects I am showing you tonight on the Crafty Individuals website HERE.

Thanks Helen they are just Yum!

Next Isabelle Norris has been helping out with a customer enquiry on her Cuttlewax technique. You may have noticed on the CI WEBSITE GALLERY some time ago several beautiful Christmas cards that Isabelle made using CI stamps and embossing folders - so pretty and so Winter Wonderland! Anyway she has been an absolute dear and has made a slide tutorial demonstrating how she went about the process she used to make the cards below, and you will find her slide tutorial on her website HERE. It is a really interesting and clever process so do try it out, I think you will love it! If you want to have a go you can purchase the wax sheets you need from THE CRAFT BARN. I will be buying mine very soon I can tell you!

Here is one of the older cards and three new delights she has made:

(There's that Rudolph again - he seems to poke his nose in everywhere, doesn't he?)

And:

Love them!

Well I still have lots more on my computer desk top to show you, but I'm going to call it a day for now. Just time to leave you with some photos Malcolm took in Whitby on Friday. You know how we love Whitby (fish and chips - yummy!) It also just happened to be the start of Goth weekend, so I left Malcolm loitering on a corner grabbing hold of passing Goths (who just also happen to love having their photos taken - fortunately) whilst I went shopping. His excuse was that you would all love seeing the pics on my blog, but actually he just likes taking snaps! Hope you don't have nightmares after seeing these.

Night all - and enjoy Downton if you can get it wherever you are!

Spooky!

Back soon.

Jean x

A VERY BEAUTIFUL CUSTOMER PROJECT, MORE CHALLENGE INSPIRATION AND BLOG CANDY

2011-11-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

I have a few more November Challenge inspirational pieces to show you tonight, and some blog candy to give away, but firstly I want to show you the most beautiful project made by a customer of ours JANET (JANET'S KAARTEN), I just love all the superb detail, and I'm sure you will love it too.

How fabulous is that?! Check out our stamps CI-285 and CI-322, CI-323.

Now onto more lovely November Challenge inspiration from 'the team'. Firstly a couple of SUE'S wonderful card creations:

...... with more to follow soon! - (stamps CI-327 and CI-332)

And a very pretty 'Santa' box by GINGER - loving it! (an early Santa stamp CI-136)

And you may ask - where exactly is my contribution? Well I am working on it - honestly - but after a couple of hours work I dismantled it (wasn't at all happy!) and am redoing. Hopefully it will follow in the next few days, along with still more inspiration!!! So in the meantime here is a little tag with apologies.....

And to finish off tonight two lovely packs of blog candy are now available to give away. One pack will go off to a random 'comment maker' at the end of this post - so get commenting folks! And the other pack will go off to a random email - so anyone can go for this one. Please email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk with the words 'blog candy please'. You are welcome to try for it both ways - but one comment/email each only please.

Pack A

Pack B

Looking forward to hearing from you, and seeing those Challenge entries too (three in already!)

Jean x

NOVEMBER CHALLENGE DETAILS

2011-10-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here I am - late again - with the Crafty Individuals November Challenge details. I ended up watching some weird sort of horror movie with my son tonight (and I don't normally do horror movies!) - but you know when you get sucked into something that is on the TV and need to see what happens ..........
Do I feel better for having watched it until the end? - no I can't say that I do really. Ah well lets move on!

Today is 1st November and that means its time for the start of the new Challenge. The subject matter for the Challenge has been chosen with the oncoming season in mind - and is 'Winter Wonderland' - with big thanks to Lynne for this excellent idea. Lynne will also be judging this month's challenge at the end of the month, and will be picking five winners who will each be able to choose a rubber stamp from our collection as their 'prize'. So please do join in if you can - it is always a pleasure to see all your very creative work.

Please note: As this is a Crafty Individuals Challenge you must include at least one Crafty Individuals product in your submission.

You will be able to submit your entry up until midnight on 25th November, and we are so looking forward to seeing your artwork.

As usual I will paste the monthly guidelines below:

.......

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

Post your challenge project on your blog,before the 25^th of the month, and include a link back to this blog,

Leave a link in the URL box to take usdirectly to your challenge project, etc. – which will then appear here on thisblog as a thumbnail image – so we can all see your wonderful work.

At the end of the month the CI team and/orguests will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will win aCI rubber stamp of their choice.

Go for it and enjoy the challenge x

.......

I have some lovely 'Rudolph', CI-332, themed projects from the 'Team' to give you food for thought tonight - mmmm!

To begin with a gentle and delightful hanging by LYNNE herself:

Followed by a wonderful card from ISABELLE (loving the scroll effect):

And then a very pretty little box decorated with Stampbord tiles (and Rudolph), by LUCY:

So there we have just a little taster selection, and with more to follow soon.

NB: We have just received the new issue of Craft Stamper tonight, which should be on the CI Website very soon, and it has a few projects within, featuring our products, including one by myself and another one by Joanne Wardle, which is really lovely. So don't forget to purchase a copy of this great British stamping magazine!

Goodnight all!

Jean x

ps Look out for some more Blog Candy packages to come later in the week.

FIVE FABULOUS OCTOBER CHALLENGE WINNING ENTRIES ....

2011-10-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

Better let you know the October Challenge Winners quick - before the start of the November Challenge. This Challenge business really brings it home to me how fast the months fly by! Heavens - its nearly Christmas again!

The five fabulous winning entries have been kindly picked for us this month by Carol (Ginger) and here they are (in no particular order):

A so very pretty card by Paula featuring stamp CI-069 :-

A very spooky framed creation by Brenda (Happy Halloween folks!) - just loving those oh so ancient bottles (Brenda used CI-319 as her background):-

A beautiful box of winged thingz by Myra incorporating CI-108 and CI-135 :-

A creepy, gothic style tag by Lena in fantastic colours, using our stamps CI-062 and CI-227:-

And finally a winged mallards card by Siobhan - just lovely! Siobhan used CI-297 to make this card.

Nice flower detail too - using crackle stamp CI-116:-

A great choice of projects, we hope you agree?!

Do check out all five blogs for more lovely artwork, and further instructions as to how they went about making their projects.

As always ladies please email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk with your winning choice of stamp and your postal address, and your prize will be winging its way to you in no time at all!

Thanks to everyone who entered - its lovely to see so much gorgeous artwork. I'll be back with the November Challenge details in just a few days. Hope you will join us!

Have a great weekend all - and go get those fingers inky - you know you want to!

Jean x

SAFELY HOME, WITH LOTS OF LOVELY PHOTOS

2011-10-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous time in Spain, including several colourful days spent in Seville. It was very warm and sunny and we took around 1,000 photos between us - plenty of future material for crafting there then!

I have quickly put together a little taster (fragments) below - just amazing textures and colours:

Mmmm - yummy!

Plus another one of my favourites:

Well to crack on tonight - I have a few other crafting things to show you. These are really relating back to the current CHALLENGE, which is now almost ending (just over a day for your submissions folks!), and should have been shown here a while ago. Firstly a rather lovely 'winged things' wall hanging by SUE - a delight to grace anyone's wall.

Now a beautiful decorated tray by Isabelle - who is making some really creative projects at the moment, so do check out her blog -

Which also doubles as a calendar project - made for THE CRAFT BARN BLOG .....

And whilst I am on the subject of The Craft Barn Blog (which is always a treat to visit) - I spotted this project made by the uber talented ISA (from France) - I hope she won't mind me popping these images on here, but they are just so lovely - using our elements plates CI-255 AND CI-305 -

Go visit ISA'S BLOG as she is one very talented lady (and you can buy stuff too!).

Anyway back to 'winged things' and a lovely shrine by ZUZU, which was also made for The Craft Barn Blog -

And to finish this post tonight TASSY has been busy putting together a couple more of her clever and informative videos, using our products. The first is on the subject of 'winged things' and can be located HERE - this is the card she is demonstrating:

And the second is a lovely alcohol ink technique based card ....

which can be watched HERE. Enjoy!

Jean x

BEFORE WE LEAVE FOR SUNNY SPAIN .......

2011-10-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

........thought I had better log in with a little post. Malcolm and I will be away for a week - however there will still be ladies here eagerly waiting for your orders, and whisking them off in the post as usual - so no problems on that score then!

We had a lovely show in Port Sunlight last weekend, and it was really great to meet all of you who came over to our stand and said hello. This was one of our decorated Christmas Tags that I further embellished with our new and very popular 'Rudolph' stamp CI-332:

I cut and overlapped parts of the tag around the stamp image, embellished further, and layered the tag onto two complimentary pieces of coloured card.

And the image below is of a tag that has become another one of those little handmade Christmas gifts that I am working on. I used another tag (the same design as the first one) to cover a little 'cheap' notepad - the side view shows the structure better - and then I glued the covered notepad to the lower front of the first tag. A cardboard strut back was added so that the project can stand alone - a useful present for a friend!

I'm sure you get the idea!

More gift ideas still to follow.

I also want to show you tonight some lovely sample projects by Lisa and Elaine of Destination Art. Lisa and Elaine are retailers in Australia who work with and sell our products - so very pretty! Do check out their blog and shop!

And ....

Finally tonight I just must show you a couple of beautiful card images sent over to me by lovely Lynne of Adorn - so very feminine as always:

In this one Lynne has used our new Shades of Summer Background Book, plus rubber stamps CI-108 and CI-329.

Then .....

Again with the new background book and stamp CI-329, plus another new stamp CI-331.

To finish tonight just a little reminder about the current CI CHALLENGE - 'Winged Things' which is attracting some very crafty and individual creations this month. There are still 13 days to go to get your 'winged' projects linked in - so get those stamps and papers out and join in with the fun!

Hoping to get some great photos, ideas and stuff in Seville (and a bit of warmth too perhaps) - back with you soon.

Jean x

MORE OCTOBER CHALLENGE INSPIRATION

2011-10-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is a very quick post as we are off to Port Sunlight tomorrow morning to set up for the Happy Stampers show. Looking forward to meeting you there if you have tickets for this great event.

But before we go I am adding a few more Challenge (Winged Things) inspirational pieces as follows:

An extremely creative and lovely piece of work from Zuzu ....

*(SORRY IMAGE REMOVED FOR MAGAZINE SUBMISSION)

Zuzu has used the angel CI-056 (one of my all time favourite stamps) plus our calligraphy stamps to create this - thanks Zuzu.

Then a great hanging using our new stamp CI-329 by Kim - loving this new stamp, which will also be featuring on Dawn Bibby's show I believe, on Create and Craft - Tuesday - so do check it out folks!

Thanks Kim!

A couple of superb 'acetate' cards by Sue featuring images from our Christmas Image Books, plus our calligraphy stamp.

And finally another piece by Helen - a lovely 'winged' pendant which would be a delight to wear.

Thanks to both Sue and Helen!

Now I had better get back to packing those boxes - bye for now!

Jean x

WE HAVE 4 NEW STAMPS AND A NEW BOOK AVAILABLE NOW ....

2011-10-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

If you are on the Crafty Individuals Website mailing list you will now know that we have released the latest new stamps, and our new background papers book - 'Shades of Summer'. As you know I am in a pretty, pretty sort of crafting mood currently, so the new stuff suits this mood perfectly! I thought I would show you a few of the items I have been making with the products in the last couple of weeks or so:

Firstly three cards -

This card was made with one of our Portrait Tags, our 'Shades of Summer' background book (cut-out birdcage and dove), stamp CI-258 (such a useful stamp!), plus flowers, lace, heart brads and hand-dyed ribbon (I bought this ribbon, and we are getting it in stock very soon - love it!).

Close-up -

By the way whilst I am the tag subject I have just received my copy of the new issue Craft Stamper (November), and it has a lovely, lovely article by Helen Chilton - using the TAGS in lots of great ways - even little birdhouses out of just one tag. As soon as we receive our copies for the website we will get them up there for you, so you can check them out for yourself. Whilst I am on the subject of CS Liesbeth Fidder (a very talented crafter from the Netherlands) also has an article in there using CI items in great creative ways.

Second card:

This time I stamped the new birdcage from CI-329 onto one of the background papers and then carried on in a similar way to the card above.

And the last card:

Using the new papers plus stamps CI-326 and CI-320.

Here are the new stamps:

And the cover of the new book:

We have also added another couple of items by Tando (loving their products!):-

A new Mini House Trio - with little doors and windows, how cute is that?, and another small Printer Tray with Cover. Thought I would give the tray a bit of a makeover with Christmas in mind - so why not do something similar as a very special card for someone you love -

Close-ups:

And the front and back covers -

Firstly I gessoed and painted the chipboard in a pale blue. I covered the front and back and inner right hand side with our Christmas Tags and then stamped over the exposed painted chipboard with snowflake stamp CI-241 and embossed. Then I used the following stamps to decorate:- CI-142, CI-254, CI-327, CI-257 and CI-304, plus a couple of images from our Merry Christmas image book.

Do you like?

I am always delighted to read your comments on my posts, and sorry not to be able to chat to each of you personally (I would just never get any work done!). However as a little thank you for today I would like to give each of the lovely commentees (is that a word?!) to date, from last night's challenge posting, one of the new stamps (of their choice) . So we would be very pleased if Lee (Crafty Loops), Netty, Lynne (Ephemera), Daniele, Sid, Gisele, Fliss, Margaret, Florence, Ann B, and Cheryl, would forward their addresses and choice of new stamp to info@craftyindividuals.co.uk, so that we can get them in the post (I haven't included Lynne Moncrieff as she already has them of course!).

Now I have to go - needing a nice cup of tea, and to settle down ready to watch 'Downton Abbey' (goody!) - no designing tonight then I don't think!

Thanks for checking me out.

Jean x

CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS OCTOBER CHALLENGE STARTS TODAY

2011-10-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

It is already October, although you wouldn't think so here in England - it is hot, hot, hot! We had a lovely early Spring - no Summer to speak of - and now an 'Indian' Summer. Well that is England for you - always unpredictable!

Being the first day of October it is time to give you all the subject matter for this month's challenge. This has been carefully chosen for us by Ginger, and is 'Winged Things', which should give you plenty of scope for your designs. Ginger will also be judging the entries at closing time, and picking the five 'winners', who will be asked to pick a rubber stamp of their choice as a prize.

Please note: As this is a 'Crafty Individuals' Challenge you must include at least one CI product in your project.

You can submit your challenge entries up until midnight on 25th October - so please join in if you possibly can, and help make our challenges a great inspirational success.

The usual info and details you need are pasted below:

........

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

Post your challenge project on your blog,by the 25^th of the month, and include a link back to this blog,

Leave a link in the URL box to take usdirectly to your challenge project, etc. – which will then appear here on thisblog as a thumbnail image – so we can all see your wonderful work.

At the end of the month the CI team and/orguests will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will win aCI rubber stamp of their choice.

Go for it and enjoy the challenge x

........

And now I am delighted to be able to show you some of the 'team's' lovely creations on the theme of 'Winged Things' to get you started in the creative process......

First of all here is a lovely little bird box from Ginger herself - beautifully stamped and very yummy!

From myself a little heart hanging using some of our newest products - more on those in a blog posting tomorrow I am hoping (fingers crossed) -

With a couple of close-ups -

Now we have a hanging made by lovely Lynne (Adorn) who I am absolutely delighted to say is joining the CI 'Team'. Lynne has been working with our products for a long time now, and with her super feminine touch makes some adorable projects. Here is her first 'official' 'team' piece .....

Again Lynne has used some of our latest items.

I am also delighted to show you some crafting tonight by Sue. Sue has been completely tied up with family stuff and moving house recently, but has managed to find some quality crafting time to help out with this month's challenge inspiration. Here are a couple of her gorgeous projects, with another to follow later:

And ...

Thanks Sue!

And Helen has come up trumps again with a stunning, colourful bracelet on the 'Winged Things' theme:

Do check out her blog for futher info.

Finally for this evening I will give you the clever 'spooky' winged things creation from Lucy which of course is very appropriate for this month as Halloween is almost upon us!!

Hope you enjoyed tonight's display. We look forward to seeing what you can do with the 'Winged Things' theme.

Bath time now for me - goodnight all.

Jean x

FIVE FABULOUS WINNING PROJECTS ......

2011-09-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

I'm delighted to say that Lucy has been kind enough to pick five fabulous winners of the Crafty Individuals September Challenge. There were 25 lovely entries, and she has had a hard choice to make, and you will see why if you check out the Challenge page. In her own words - 'It was such a joy to look at all the beautiful eye candy you submitted for this month’s challenge. Thank you so much! It was a hard decision to choose five winners as I loved them all, so I decided to pick the ones which I felt were a little bit different in the way they used Crafty Individuals’ products to embrace the Hanging Around theme.'

So without further ado the winning entries are:

This amazing and beautifully made bracelet by ALISON - an absolute delight by a lovely lady -

A very pretty in pink pearly canvas (plus mini canvas) by SUE - so very feminine don't you think?

A cleverly put together trio of altered beermats by a favourite lady of ours SIOBHAN

A beautifully heart shaped hanging by the very talented PAULA

And to finish off the five a unique ice skate shaped hanging made from recycled materials by clever FLORENCE

A lovely display of work everyone, and as usual if your project has been picked as a winner please email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk to claim your prize rubber stamp.

Thanks to all who entered this month, and it is only a couple of days until the start of the new challenge for October, and it would be just great if you would join in and help make the display of work so inspiring and delicious again.

Jean x

A BUSY WEEK IN SEPTEMBER.....

2011-09-23T14:09:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to blog all week, but it just hasn't happened. My sons have safely returned from a 10 day holiday with my brother in Los Angeles (as previously mentioned), and then its been a mad dash to get them ready for beginning of a new year at Uni. Well (thank goodness) tonight I'm in on my own and can put a little quality blogging time in (funny how you get hooked on blogging - I would have never believed it possible just last year).

So this evening I have several beautiful projects to show you as follows:

I recently spotted some great stuff on Ephemera's Attic blog, using a variety of Crafty Individuals' products as the main images.

All quite different to each other and very yummy!

Then I fell in love with this card that Joanne Wardle made with our sewing elements stamp CI-328 plus words from CI-277 - so simple and so inventive:

Also lovely Isabelle has sent over a couple of images that I can show you. The first one is a canvas, which is just gorgeous ...

And the second is a calendar made with one of our Portrait Style Tags:

And I liked this idea soooo much I just had to make one myself:

A little bit OTT perhaps?!, but that is how I am feeling at the moment - being in a very pretty, girly, flowery, kind of a crafting mood, and using coloured sprays to dye everything in sight too. I am also in the mood for making little gifts, with Christmas in mind, and this idea fitted the bill perfectly (with more ideas to come). So why don't you join me in preparing for a 'home made' Christmas this year - and let me know how you get on with your present making plans.

And here is a close-up:

Thanks for the fabby idea Isabelle!

Finally do check out the lovely entries so far in our September 'Hanging About' Challenge. If you haven't got too much on this weekend you might just have time to get an entry together, with the chance of winning a CI stamp of your choice. There are just over 2 days to go from now to link in your entry, so why not give it a go, we would love to see your project up there!

Bye for now,

Jean x

CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER 'FOCUS ON'....

2011-09-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

So pleased that you are enjoying seeing some of the fabulous crafting work done by some of the amazing crafters out there who like to work with our products, and tonight I would like to show you a little more! I have long admired the beautiful creations of lovely Lynne (ADORN), and with her kind permission I am going to show you just a few of them here (well quite a lot actually!):

Enjoy!

(Incorporating stamp CI-306 as the main image)

(making great use of our seaside stamp CI-272 and our seaside background book)

(oblong pendant and an image from our domino sheet)

(utilizing the back of a canvas Lynne has used stamps CI-324, CI-325, CI-278, CI-239, and CI-307 to create this little beauty)

(with stamp CI-065 featured, amongst others)

(again making great use of our seaside background book)

And finally 5 pretty little beauties:

(a combination of images from our Nostalgia 2 Glossy, and our Tag Glossy, plus several stamps)

I love them all - what say you? Do check out Lynne's blog - ADORN

Jean x

p.s. By the way folks the birdcage charms are now back in stock and you will find them HERE - we had a charm 'meltdown' when we released these, and sold out straight away - so get them whilst they are still HOT!

BONNIE SCOTLAND PHOTO CHALLENGE WINNER, AND A 'FOCUS ON ....'

2011-09-11T13:39:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who rose to the 'where was this photograph taken' challenge in my last post, and many thanks too for all the lovely comments left - what nice people you are! Malcolm is sooo pleased you are liking his piccie too.

We are giving two little packages of CI goodies away to the first two correct answers, that came in very quickly (if I didn't know already I wouldn't have had a clue where the scene was taken - so well done all!). The first came in as a comment from a lady called Elizabeth, and the second quickly followed from Freda in an email. Please email us with your address Elizabeth so that we can post off your goodies asap!

Also tonight I want to do a little 'Focus On' feature on the craft work of a lovely lady in Scotland - Siobhan, who I met a couple of years ago, and who is a fabulous stamper. Thanks for sharing Siobhan.

Firstly couldn't resist this (part of her current CI CHALLENGE entry - beer mat hanging):

Siobhan used CI-225 to decorate this section of her hanging.

Followed by another five of her fab projects......

Lovely! Check out more of Siobhan's great craftwork HERE, and the CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS website for the stamps used in her projects.

Now I had better get on with designing some more stuff for us all -
Bye for now,

Jean x

JUST A COUPLE OF THINGS, A SNEAKY PEAK, AND A FEW LITTLE GIVEAWAYS ....

2011-09-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight I have a couple of little projects of mine to share with you, a sneaky tease peak, some giveaways, and a little challenge. Things have been very busy for us at Crafty Individuals this year - we usually have a bit of a slow down in the middle of summer - but not this year, which is fantastic of course, but it also means I don't get as much time to craft and design. Most designing gets done in the middle of the night, or the early hours of the morning these days, and my boys (aged 18 & 20) even say to me 'isn't it about time you went to bed?!', as they pass me still on the computer on their way to bed after coming in from a nightclub. Anyway this tends to mean that my crafting projects at the moment are often quickies.

The first item is a tag I made using distress stains and stamp CI-271 from the Elements Collection. I added some vintage lace I picked up in a 'collectables' shop, some flowers and scrim, an earring, bits of ribbon and topped it all off with an image from our Secret Garden 2 glossy sheet. I did a little machine sewing around the image, which I really like, when I can be bothered to get out the machine that is.

The second item is a little round frame (and you know how much I like these!) from Tando, that I started decorating at The Craft Barn demo day a few weeks ago using stamp CI-325 and some of our background papers, plus to follow - a piccie of some of the lovely ladies who joined us on the day!

Now I want to give you a sneaky peak at a few of the pages of a new CI background book, that is currently at our printer's being made up. I just can't wait to see this finished as it was a long time in the making (partly due to that lack of time I have to design these days) and its our favourite book so far. Called 'Shades of Summer' it features vintage inspired flowers, birds and birdcages, in pretty pastel colours, and also has the bonus of a few more pages inside than the existing background books do too. Hopefully it will be ready to launch along with the next batch of new stamps in a few weeks time, so watch this space!

At this point I would like to present a few giveaways (we do like to give things away, here at Crafty Individuals!), and I thought it would be nice to give a little something occasionally to some of my lovely followers, as I don't get a chance to thank you all personally. So tonight I thought I would give a little surprise gift to my very first follower - apwilkinson2001, my most recent follower to date - Carol, and a follower from somewhere in the middle - Butterflies. So if you are mentioned here please email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk to claim your little prize package of CI products. I will be doing this again on a different basis from time to time so do keep an eye out if you are a follower, just in case your name is mentioned in the future.

To finish off tonight I have a little challenge for you set by Malcolm. If you read this blog regularly you may have noticed that Malcolm had a week's visit up in the far reaches of Scotland recently, when he attended a photography workshop with Bruce Percy. One of the photographs he took is displayed below, and Malcolm would like you to take a guess as to where this photo might have been taken. To give you a clue - it was on an island, so get those maps out!

If you would like to take a guess please send your answer in an email to us, again at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk, and the first correct answer will received a package of CI goodies. So go on, give it a go, it is open to all and really you have nothing to loose do you?!

I do like that image - very restful and serene!

Jean x

CHALLENGE INSPIRATION UPDATE AND NEW PRINTER TRAYS NOW AVAILABLE!

2011-09-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

I have a few more lovely challenge inspirational pieces to show you tonight and we have a few new great crafty bits now available on the Crafty Individuals Website.

Firstly Jo Capper-Sandon sent over this totally amazing hanging, as her September Challenge inspirational project, using our current website offer stamp CI-319 - creepy yet strangely soothing at the same time:

Wow! Thanks Jo.

Followed by a just so lovely diorama card by Helen Chilton - so very clever!

And another exciting 'hanging around' project (key cabinet) by this month's challenge controller Lucy Edmondson, in such pretty colours!:

Do check out the Challenge HERE and join in if you can.

The other piece of news I want to share with you tonight is that we now have a fantastic selection of chipboard mini printer trays, made by a British company - Tando, now available to purchase on our website in the Must Have's section. We love them! - some samples below:

And this is what I did with the top one:

Spooky!

I used stamps CI-319 and CI-304, plus Travels in Italy background papers, acrylic paints, muslin, black ribbon, copic pens, feathers and other bits and bobs to put this together.

Happy Halloween - oops might be a bit early for that yet?!

Jean x

'HANGING ABOUT' - OUR SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE STARTS NOW!

2011-09-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

Our September Challenge begins today, and the theme for the month has been chosen by Lucy Edmondson, and is 'Hanging About'. To give you some idea of how to tackle this I will put the idea in Lucy's own words - ‘this would give people scope to do a wall hanging, canvas, frame, lantern, bird cage, bird house, jewellery, dangly things on cards, pennants – all sorts. Or they could interpret it as friends hanging about together.’

So I reckon you have plenty of scope and lots of fun to be had with this challenge, so please do join in! You have until the 25th of September to link in your entry, and just remember that your project must include at least one Crafty Individual product! The usual info and details you need are pasted below:
...........

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

To enter this month’s Crafty Individuals Challenge please put together your project, following the subject material outlined below (your project should include at least one Crafty Individuals product please), then:

Post your challenge project on your blog, before the 25^th of the month, and include a link back to this blog,
Leave a link in the URL box to take us directly to your challenge project, etc. – which will then appear here on this blog as a thumbnail image – so we can all see your wonderful work.
At the end of the month the CI team and/or guests will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will win a CI rubber stamp of their choice.

Go for it and enjoy the challenge x
...........

And now as usual I will show you some inspiration from myself and the team to get you going:

From Lucy herself we have a pretty shop front hanging in lovely pastel colours:

From Helen Chilton an amazing Stampbord pendant:

From myself a hanging using a Tando frame and stamps CI-248 and CI-320, together with our background papers:

From Tassy a lovely birdcage card in such complimentary colours:

From Ginger a delicious heart hanging:

From Kim a really great door hanger - sew cool!

A just so gorgeous glass hanging from Zuzu:

And last but not least, as they say (for tonight anyway), a pretty card with some little girls just 'hanging about' by Isabelle Norris:

Well I'm pretty impressed with that little lot, and I hope you are too?! Check out the team's blogs for further info and instructions. More inspiration to follow.

Don't forget to link in your entry soon.

Jean x

AUGUST CHALLENGE RESULTS .......

2011-08-28T13:18:00.000-07:00

A bit late I know - but such a busy weekend! My eldest son (aged 20) has gone off to a music festival in Croatia (worry, worry!), and demanded my full attention beforehand, and Malcolm has just returned from a photography workshop up in far Scotland with the amazing Bruce Percy - if any of you, or yours, are interested in photography do check his website out - it is great stuff! Then this afternoon we had a little trip to Whitby (love Whitby!) - bought some gorgeous vintage lace bits, some pretty buttons, and a carved wooden buddha type thing for the garden. My house is sooo full of arty stuff, I've had to move on to filling up the garden now!

Anyway I'm sure you want the results not a potted history of my weekend - so here goes.....

Our fantabulous Helen Chilton was in charge of this challenge, and as I can't put it better myself the following remarks and comments are in her words:

'Really struggled to choose just 5 of these - there are so many great entries. In the end, I went for those that had really gone for it colourwise - the brightness just shone out even in the thumbnails. So, here goes':

16 Samantha Read - really went for it colourwise, and it works!

27 Paula - just beautiful - look at the sky!

19 Ann B - Love the colours in the background with the watery effect and the envelopes pick out each colour. Also the miniature bathing beauty!

5 Elaine - the colours just stood out behind the beautiful old ruin!

29 Alipeeps - Amazing range of background colours all pulled together with the flourish!

'Hope that's okay! There were loads I could have chosen - they were all beautiful, so I went for the ones with vivid colours that worked.'

And how bright and beautiful they are - don't you agree? Thanks Helen for making the difficult decision, and please ladies can you email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk with your choice of stamp!

Lovely Lucy Edmondson is in charge of the September challenge, starting on 1st September, so we hope you can join us again folks.

Have a fun bank holiday - if you live in the, rather wet, UK!

Jean x

FOCUS ON .......

2011-08-25T03:31:00.000-07:00

All the entries are now in for the August Challenge with 37 gorgeous projects submitted - do check them out! Helen Chilton is the judge on this one - don't envy her the task of choosing 5 winners, I must admit. I'll let you all know the winners as soon as I can. Thanks for entering everyone!

Meanwhile I thought I would have a 'Focus On' post, so you can see the lovely crafting of one of our amazing customers. So today I am focussing on Florence (of 'Florence and Freddie' fame). Lucky Florence lives in the beautiful mountains of Andalucia. (Malcolm and I are having a trip to Seville in October - just can't wait!!)

So without further ado I am going to post some of Florence's lovely work using CI products - do check out her blog HERE, for further info and more fabby crafting.

Firstly fashionable lady cards:

Seaside themed cards:

And a seaside hanging:

And to follow a series of projects that I love all using stamps from our Individuals Collection:

I'm just loving them all, and there are lots more to be found on her blog. Thanks so much Florence for letting me share them with the readers.

Back soon folks,

Jean x

AND THE WINNER IS ......

2011-08-19T15:01:00.000-07:00

The winner of the six new stamps and four new glossies is Comment No 21 (the number 21 was chosen by my eldest son). We scrolled down to find that comment no 21 was by Chris Richards - well done Chris, and do email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk, with your address to claim your lovely prize.

And whilst I am in the way of posting I thought you might like to see some of the lovely projects Kim Woods sent over to us recently - which I reckon would also fit the bill of the current challenge Bright and Beautiful (just 5 days to go!):

So much style and attention to detail, as I'm sure you will agree. Check out our Website Stamp Collections to find many of the stamps Kim used. I am going to enjoy those jelly beans later - or maybe I will just keep them to look at - definitely a better option for the figure!!

Jean x

p.s. On a sadder note, and for those of you who have so kindly made enquiries, poor puss is not well at all I'm afraid, and I'm told will not recover from this bout of illness in the end. However he is holding his own at the moment, and seems quite chipper considering. Ah well that's life, as they say!

NEW PRODUCTS NOW ON THE CI WEBSITE!

2011-08-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

As quite a few of you have already seen (and are already buying) - we have some lovely new products available on the Crafty Individuals Website now.

SIX new stamps:

CI-319, CI-324, CI-325 and CI-327 (part of the Individuals Collection)

Plus CI-326 and CI-328 (part of the Elements Collection)

A bit of something there for everyone?!

We also have 4 new Glossy Sheets:

Classic Cars

Secret Garden 1

Secret Garden 2

Film Strip

Plus three new 'Must-Have's (which you definitely 'must-have'!):

A fabulous Printer's Tray, which comes in layers ready for you to glue together

Which can look something like this when decorated (my own take on this one - love these!):

And 4 Sewing Charms just perfect for that printer's tray, and to team up with our new sewing stamp above.

Plus packs of Decorative Tissue Paper (try colour staining with tea or colour sprays!) (I used it on the back layer of the Printer's Tray - above)

And finally some new items in the Arty/Crafty Gift Shop:

A Crafting 'Pinnie' (every arty girl should have one of these little beauties in her life!)

A new design Tote Bag (bag for life!)

And we have added 3 new Mirror's to this Department too:

If you like what you see, and would like a chance to win all six new stamps plus the four new glossy sheets, please leave a comment at the end of this posting, and we will pick one lucky person at random (tomorrow evening) to receive this nice little package. Check back folks to see who wins this time around.

Also a quick reminder that there are 7 days left to submit your August Challenge Entry - so don't put it off any longer!

Phew I am totally exhausted after uploading and linking up that little lot. Hope you like it all???

Jean x

WE HAVE A BLOG CANDY WINNER, AND WE HAVE MORE CHALLENGE INSPIRATION!

2011-08-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

Many thanks for the kind comments about my domestic trial and tribulations - things are much the same - but we soldier on!!!

Also thanks for the emails in response to the blog candy offer, and we now have a winner - our 15th email came from a regular customer of ours - Joan Wilcockson, so well done Joan, your goodies are winging their way to you - enjoy!

Now as promised more inspirational pieces from the team and guests to help you on your way to making your 'Bright and Beautiful' Challenge entry. We have some extremely bright and beautiful entries so far so do take a LOOK.

Herewith three more deliciously beautiful projects from Helen Chilton:

Wow!

Plus two extra sets of pieces in very beautiful colours by Sue Abbott:

Another very pretty card by Isabelle S:

And finally two projects by a couple of 'guests' this evening :-

A sooo lovely beeswax hanging by Samantha Read:

- Must get my melt pot out again!

And another beautiful hanging 'Faith, Hope, Love' by Fliss:

Thanks to all of you for sharing your lovely creations - and do check out the blog links given for crafty instructions and more great artwork.

Bye for now,

Jean x

HOME AGAIN, MORE CHALLENGE INSPIRATION, AND NEW BLOG CANDY!!

2011-08-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely weekend with the ladies at The Craft Barn, despite the problems caused by the closure of the M25, and I hope everyone there enjoyed it too - we have had some really nice feedback! However I came home to a very sick cat, leaking loft plumbing - into my bedroom, and then my car broke down severely. So the poor cat is on steroids and antibiotics, in the hope that will pull him around, the plumbing problem looks like I'll need a whole new heating system, and the car is in the garage, hence the lack of postings for a while.

Anyway to move on to the nicer crafting side of life I am going to post pics of my 'Bright & Beautiful' inspirational project, which also doubled as the project the ladies at The Craft Barn workshop made last Sunday, and here it is - 'Party at the Seaside':

Followed by a couple of close-ups:

To make this I used a Tando chipboard frame, Tando bunting, Houses sheet, Trees sheet, stamps CI-283, CI-294, Mini-image books and Background books, plus Ranger crackle paint, modelling paste, Tando compass, Copic pens, shells, ribbons, kebab sticks, alcohol inks, and tiny pearls and flowers. These little scenes are great fun to make and display either on the wall, or do as I did with this one and glue on a simple strut back so it stands on its own.

I still have lots more to inspire you into having a go at the August challenge, and will post more piccies again soon - we have 13 beautiful entries so far, with 14 days to go, so please give it a whirl and join in. But for this evening I will close by offering you the chance to acquire more Blog Candy as shown below:

To get this lovely selection of goodies, all you have to do is send us an email with the wording 'Blog Candy Please', (to the contact details on the Crafty Individuals Website), and the 15th email received will be the lucky winner. One email per person only please.

Jean x

NEW ISSUE CRAFT STAMPER, AND NEW CHALLENGE ........

2011-08-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Yipee! - the August edition of Craft Stamper is now out and is available to purchase on our website HERE! There are lots of lovely articles as always, and it is a feast for the crafting eyes. This month the subscription gift is a set of three new CI stamps (not yet issued by ourselves) plus a mini image book - definitely a great offer for a Craft Stamper/Crafty Individuals lover (the offer is worth £22.76) - so don't delay - subscribe today!

Here is a peak at the stamps on offer:

Plus the book:

In this issue I also have a project using our Tag Books, and here is a little sneaky peak:

And now it is time to introduce details about the AUGUST CHALLENGE. The topic this month has been chosen by our lovely friend Helen Chilton, and the title is 'BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL'. Here are the guidelines as usual:

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

To enter this month’s Crafty Individuals Challenge please put together your project, following the subject material outlined below (your project should include at least one Crafty Individuals product please), then:

Post your challenge project on your blog, by the 25^th of the month, and include a link back to this blog,

Leave a link in the URL box, at the end of this post, to take us directly to your challenge project, etc. – which will then appear here on this blog as a thumbnail image – so we can all see your wonderful work.

At the end of the month the CI team and/or guests will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will win a CI rubber stamp of their choice.

Go for it and enjoy the challenge x

Plus here is some team inspiration to get you thinking (there is quite a lot this month so I will be posting more soon):

Firstly just one of Helen's oh so Bright and Beautiful projects:

Followed by one of Sue's lovely projects on the same topic:

Now a pretty little teapot stand by Lucy:

And a lovely decorated tin by Kim:

A very colourful coaster by Ginger:

And to finish tonight another so very Bright and Beautiful item by Isabelle:

More inspiration to follow, including mine which has still to be photographed (so much to do, so little time!!).

So just in case you missed the topic for the new challenge - just think 'BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL' - lots of scope there then! Also please, please remember that your entry must include at least one Crafty Individuals stamp or image. Give it a go and join in the challenge.

See you at the The Craft Barn on Saturday maybe?!

Jean x

FORGOT TO MENTION ......

2011-07-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

Malcolm and I will be at THE CRAFT BARN, in Lingfield, Surrey, on Saturday, 6th August, where I will be demoing our stamps and stuff, at one of their fantastic MINIFESTS. If you haven't visited The Craft Barn before - you certainly must! Its just the greatest, heavenly craft shop with pretty much everything a girl (or boy) would ever need, in the crafting line! We would love to see you there.

And because I don't like to post without a little something visual I am going to show you a couple of lovely pics of items made by our Ginger (aka Carol) which I reckon you will love!

Firstly 3 Optical Lens Pendants:

Carol has used stamps CI-065, CI-135, and CI-305 on these, along with some resin - so check out her BLOG for further details.

And secondly a very pretty tag:

Using CI-322 and some corrugated card, along with a very pretty flower she made herself.

Just a reminder to the winners of the July Challenge - do get in touch soon ladies to claim your prizes. And it won't be long until the August Challenge begins (where do the months go to???) so keep a watch out right here. Better have some blog candy on offer soon too I reckon!

The new issue Craft Stamper should be out shortly - can't wait - should be some CI stuff in there you might be interested in! More news on that soon.

Jean x

WE'RE BACK FROM HOLIDAY AND HERE ARE THE JULY CHALLENGE WINNERS!

2011-07-27T15:11:00.000-07:00

We returned from lovely Northumberland last week, and then I immediately went to Knutsford to visit the Tatton Park Flower Show with a friend of mine. Had a great time in both places - definitely ones to be recommended - and I will paste in a couple of pics at the bottom of this post.

But without further ado here are the winners of the July competition as chosen (with great difficulty I believe) by ZUZU - in no particular order!

A Fantastic Card by Shirley Sirje

Then A Fabulous Hanging by Sarah Engles-Greer

A Lovely Tag by Alipeeps

A Very Pretty Canvas by Suzanne

And A Beautiful Collage by Florence

All divine entries ladies! Thank you one and all for entering - and as usual if you could email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk giving us your choice of rubber stamp, and your address, we will send them out the prizes poste haste.

Well done to the winners, but also well done to all of you who take part - you make the challenge so delightful to look at and so much fun!

Finally tonight here are a few little pictures from our trips:

Firstly a sooo peaceful little boat by the sea (just love this!):

A dreamy photo of Bamburgh Castle from the beach:

Malcolm in a poppy field on Holy Island (we couldn't believe our luck when we came across this delight):

And lastly an image of lovely lillies from the flower show:

I think I can feel some more glossy sheets coming on!!!

Good night all.

Jean x

JUST A QUICK POST, AND A CONFIGURATION BOX

2011-07-15T14:27:00.000-07:00

Malcolm and I are off to lovely Northumberland for a few days - hopefully to photograph castles amongst other things (however the weather forecast is awful and I'm full of cold - so it will be interesting!), therefore this is a quick post to show you what I did with a Configuration box that I have had in my stash for a while. Thought it was about time I used it in a Crafty Individuals sort of a way!

I have had a problem with these as up until now I have always felt that the cubby holes were a bit on the deep side for me, so eventually I decided that I would make false bottoms for each one (at different levels) out of card, and I was happy with this format. Then to decorate I used tissue tape all over the box, softened with a thin layer of gesso. I covered the false bottoms with CI Background Papers, then added charms, flowers, buttons, glass bottle, bobbins, lace, ribbon, images from our Domino Glossy Sheet and stamped images from our Elements Stamp Plates. I used our Crackle Stamp embossed in gold on the top edges and on the flourish, and finished with more ribbon, trim, bows and flowers. I then had a 'brainwave' and used two little bobbins as the feet.

Hope you like it?!

Keep linking in those Challenge Entries whilst we are away. Thanks everyone.

Jean x

MORE STUNNING INSPIRATION FOR YOUR ARTISTIC SENSES

2011-07-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

I meant to show you the following inspirational CI JULY CHALLENGE pieces last week, but as usual the week flew by, and then I was away helping my friend and occasional CI stamp designer Linda with her Open Studio art event in Shrewsbury, over the weekend. I have known Linda since I was 4 years old - a lifetime in fact - so it is always a pleasure to stay with her and her family, and the event was a great success too! We also managed to fit in a little shopping, chatting, eating and drinking to finish off the visit - nice!

Ah well, enough of that, and here as promised are the so very beautiful projects by Zuzu. Zuzu also chose the theme for the July challenge, and will be the judge too this time around.

Firstly a 'sewing kit' purse in the specified colours of pink, brown and cream using our new elements stamps CI-322 AND CI-323:

A stunning project - and much admired by her blog followers! So she went on to make a box in a similar style:

Thanks Zuzu!

And finally tonight a project by lovely Sue Abbott, who has been working so very hard on her new house recently, and still found time to inspire us with her lovely framed image:

Thanks for tuning in, and thanks for submitting the great challenge projects everyone. Still 13 days to go to get your results linked in folks and let us all see just what YOU can do!

Jean x

DRESSMAKER'S SHOP FRONT IN PINK, CREAM AND BROWN

2011-07-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

As promised here is my offering for the CI July Challenge - I hope you like it - do let me know (I certainly loved making it)!

With a couple of close-ups:

And now I will give a few instructions on how I went about making it ....

I used a little wooden compartment tray which you will find on our website on the 'Must-Have's' page HERE. I covered the tray in the Tim Holtz tissue tape (from my own stash), which I then lightened by painting all over with thin gesso, and a touch of pink acrylic paint. In one of the sections I added a 'false bottom' - by making a simple box/tray from cardboard, which I covered in CI background paper (top left) and I decorated this section with ribbon and charms as shown. The other sections were also decorated with lace, ribbon, and flowers and then a stamped corset and a stamped parasol from CI-306 were added, to top right and bottom left, plus stamped and cut-out words from CI-258. I finished off the last section - bottom right with a painted wooden reel and ribbon and another charm. Then I glued thin cream trim around the top edges as shown, with a bow to the centre.

I cut a piece of strong card on which to mount the box with a section at the top to hold the 'Dressmaker' ad from CI-322, and I cover the card with coloured thin card. When I had glued the dressmaker ad in place I added a couple of flowers and a bow.

I then decided that the box needed doors. So I cut these out of the same coloured card with an extra folded section added on that I could then glue to the sides of the tray. I used the stamped door hardware from CI-304 to add decoration to the doors.

To finish my shop front I added the two lovely ladies (coloured with my trusty Copics) again from CI-322, some ribbon around the doors and the top of the ad (and to hang), and some dangly brown shell trim as pictured.

Give it a go folks - its fun, fun, fun! (We would love to see your results!)

I was going to show you a couple more lovely 'team' challenge projects as well tonight, but here I am having yet another late night (just toooo many late nights recently - these computers just eat away the hours!), so I'm going to save those for next time around (soon!).

Blog followers total just crept over 300 - thanks all - I am so honoured!

Bye for now,

Jean x