A COCO MOMENT OR TWO.....

Hello everyone and thanks for the good wishes, and lovely comments, on my last post.  Cold nearly gone now,  just left with a very annoying, sleep interfering cough!!  A few bangs going off outside here tonight - I guess this is now the build up to November 5th!!  Monty dog is terrified of the bangs and tries to find somewhere to hide away and shake.  Lots of evenings of this to go then I'm afraid before its all over!!

I have rather a lot of lovely makes by Coco waiting in the wings, so it makes sense to have a Coco moment or two this evening, and show you all the pretties she has made with CI stamps and stuff.
Firstly I will blog the Christmassy pretties....

I love this card above with white embossing and colourful background using CI-425 Winter Garden.  Another appears below using the same stamp.  The sentiments in both cases are from CI-438.

Then we have a pretty card in blues featuring the children from CI-399 Winter Wonderland.

Followed by a trio of lovely festive tags, all incorporating Gio's ladies, plus children from CI-327 and stamped doilies, also by Gio .

Moving on from Christmassy makes we have a gorgeous card showing CI-429 and CI-439 off beautifully...

How beautiful are the next two cards?! Loving these, very autumnal makes, with the Alice hares CI-434 sitting pretty...

Now two more flutterby butterfly tags in bright and bold technicolour.  Butterflies from CI-437.

More butterflies feature prettily below.....

And finally we have the teddies from CI-440 looking adorable, as teddies do...

Hope you have enjoyed our Coco moments tonight.

Back soon with the new Challenge for November I should think,

Jean x

A BRIEF POST.....

Just a short post by me tonight, full of cold again, and ready to go and lie down!!  Not many words, just some lovely craftwork by Lynne and Gio.  Firstly as a follow on to my last post here are Lynne's beautiful makes with our new Christmas stamps, followed by some close-ups...

We are also delighted to say that Lynne has some more of her lovely work in the new issue of Stampers' Sampler.  I have my copy, and the trees from CI-429, and the Magical Reindeer, look stunning in print.  Well done again Lynne.

My next work of art is by Gio, and I just love this fabulous altered clock (and card to match), with instructions too - yay!

Steps in pictures.....

Followed by the wording by Gio....

-Cut to size a circle from white cardstock
-Pour some mica powders on the non-stick mat and spray water
-Swish the cardstock on to the mat
-Set aside to dry
-Clean the mat with a piece of lace
-Stamp using the CI-430 background stamp
-Stamp the focal image from CI-441 on silk card
-Color the image with Gelatos and a waterbrush
-Cover the dress with glue
-Sprinkled it with mica flakes
-Mount the stamped images to the clock
-Glue the lace to the metal pieces
-Cover the lace with gel medium or clear gesso
-Colour the littlest piece with alcohol ink
-Mount the clock
-Add the sentiment and bits of lace


That's all for tonight folks,

Back soon,

Jean x

NEW STAMPS, NEW MAKES.....

In tonight's post I thought I would pick out a few makes that are coming in from the team using the latest new issue of rubber!  The stamps themselves can be found in the New Products section.  Firstly here are makes using CI-448, The Star in the East..

A beautiful and colourful card and a tag by Coco...

Followed by an even more colourful card from Florence - stunning! Plus a much softer card with the same stamp too....

...(great use of our Tiny Flowers stencil around the edges)

Two real beauties from Gio next....

Then I'm loving this card by Laury, with a totally different look...

I made a couple of cards too...

CI-447, It's a Christmassy World is the next new stamp...

A couple of makes for this one so far below....

A pretty card and tagged pressie from Laury..

And cool cards from Gio...

Then I adore this gorgeous shadow box from Florence using CI-446, Festively Curly Words...

I made some white embossed and glittery cards combined with our tree stamps too....

....And you probably noticed the same curly words appearing in some of the first sets of makes as well!

Finally tonight a few makes using CI-444, Better than a Princess....

A pretty fabric based card make by Gio....

And a pretty easel card and superb gift bag from Florence...

Plus a very lovely card by Sylvie (with a lovely CI stamped background combination)...

Lots more to come including some more fabulous makes using CI-445, Flower Heads 2, which are in the pipeline...

Thanks for joining me tonight, and thanks too for the continuing lovely comments on my posts, all much appreciated.

Jean x

A REALLY TOUGH CHOICE....

Says Lynne, who had the unenviable job of choosing just 5 from the challenge entries this month!  Glad it wasn't me in charge!

Lynne's comments on the entries:  ' I was blown away by the level of artwork, all showcasing Crafty Individuals stamps/stencils so beautifully.  Studying the entries what shines through is how Crafty Individuals stamps adapt to the artist's favoured style and how the stamps were used as the main focal, to create texture or even creating unique embellishments. ' 

Here they are:

No 8 Jane Castle
'Crafty Individuals stamps create layers onto a wooden heart, including stamping onto 3-ply tissue.  A shrink plastic version of CI-433 is one of the fabulous embellishments on the heart.' 

No 15 Made by Chook
'A bold card with the CI bulldog sitting triumphantly against a painted Union Jack flag.  Colourful and contemporary.' 

No 17 Chris S
'A wall hanging showcasing beautifully how stamps do not need to be the focal image on your artwork, they can be used to create an abundance of texture.'
 

No 19 Craftie Times
'The fashionable, vintage ladies are brought right up to date with the use of colour and texture.  The ladies are set against frames which makes them all the more striking.' 

No 29 Gerrina
'You can almost imagine this card brought to life as the couple, with their dog, take a stroll through the woods with the sunlight dabbling through the leaves of the trees, showcasing CI-439 to the highest level.' 

Thanks as always to everyone who took part - you are all amazing!
Can the owners of the pretties above please contact us with your addresses and choice of stamp - info@craftyindividuals.co.uk

It was lovely to see so many friends and customers at Port Sunlight on Saturday - such a delightful and friendly show.  Lesley Wharton did a grand job of demoing on our stand, and I had the pleasure of just chatting all day!  Lesley (of Chocolate Baroque fame) has made her TV debut recently and can be seen for the second time this week on The Craft Channel at 9am (or 10am if you are watching on your computer screen) on Thursday, and again at 6pm in the evening.  Lesley has lots of great techniques to share with you on there so do take a look if you can.

Back soon folks.

Jean x