NEW TEAMIE - YIPEE! - AND NEW VIDEO - YAY!

We are very, very excited!  Firstly we are delighted to introduce to you a fantastic new Teamie by the name of Willy, from the Netherlands.  She can be found, along with her very lovely stamping and craftwork, at: Just do it - http://freubels-freubels.blogspot.co.uk/  She has a beautifully arty touch to her makes and we so look forward to seeing more of her work with our stamps.  Here we have a make from her just completed featuring CI-449, CI-214 and CI-186....

..... loving it!

.... and here is another make we spotted on her blog recently....

Gorgeousness! Hope you will join in and welcome her to the team.

Our other excitement is because we have managed to put another YouTube video together in a slightly different format, and we do hope you like it and find it useful?!  It shows how I went about making some master sheets for backgrounds recently..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKRMMNynV0

Here are some of the finished decorated card sheets that I made with this method, with some more detailed close-ups....

Stamps used above are CI-443 and CI-461.  I have been playing with the sheets, along with CI-442 and CI-370, and I'm sure there will be more makes to come.....

..... I think they will prove very useful for quite some time.

Finally I have a couple of very pretty Valentine's tags to share with you by teamie Flo, featuring stamps CI-449 again, CI-456 and CI-410, many thanks Flo.  Nice lolly sticks too Flo!

Bye for now,
Back soon,

Jean x

p.s.  Many thanks for all the sweet birthday wishes you sent me for my big birthday earlier this week!

A HOWLING WIND......

.......Well that's the weather going on outside here tonight, so it's great to be inside and warm and cosy, working on a blog post.

Firstly tonight I would like to mention that Katy's fabulous fifth issue of her 'mixed up' digital magazine is now available and on sale to view.  It's full of glorious mixed media artistic creations and in this issue I have a project, and so does Sylvie, one of our lovely CI teamies, plus there are a couple of mini makes by Flo in there too. There is also a freebie for you to print out and use, which comes from one of our mini image books, plus a nice discount code you can use for your purchases on the CI Website.  Check it all out and make your magazine purchase at: https://www.mixedupmag.com/   I believe you can have a look at the first issue for free as well on there, so that you can see how marvellous it all is!  Here is a sneaky peak of a part of my current issue project....

I got the gold leaf out for this one!

My makes for posting tonight are all by Sylvie too, and here they are.  I'm loving the first two gorgeous cards where Sylvie has used CI-238 for the main images, and made her backgrounds with CI-435.  I'm so pleased I can also get the piccies nice and big for you here ....

Beautiful colours Sylvie!

She has also been playing with the little birdie from CI-456 and the lovely feather from CI-397, in this very pretty and quirky make...

  
....as well as a border design from CI-451 in the background.

In the last two makes below Sylvie has used some older stamps of ours.  This one is no longer available, but I reckon many of you will still have it in your stash....

This next one is still available Here, and is one of my older favourites....

Thanks as always folks for your kind comments on my last post, and hopefully on this one too. 
Take care, have some crafty fun, and watch out as I will be back with you soon I'm sure,

Jean x

A LITTLE LOOK BACK IN TIME AND A LOOK AROUND THE HOUSES...

As I was going through my makes recently and having a bit of a sort out, I thought I would pick out a few of the older ones from the past, so that we could have a little look back at some of my faves over the years from time to time!  I expect I blogged about them at the date of creation, but I so loved making this mini printer tray one in a vintage 'lady's room' theme - very pretty in pinks and copper....

I used one of those fabulous Tando Printer Trays - I especially love the dinky ones.  The stamps used are from CI-306, CI-329 and CI-335, along with papers from our 'Shades of Summer' background book, plus lace, ribbons and charms. Those lovely printer trays do make fantastic gifts when fully decorated.

My other makes this evening are by Sylvie and are in the shape of houses, so they sort of fit a similar theme...

..... lots of CI stamps appearing here, including the lovely old gothic door from CI-249, and the flower patch from CI-411.  They are definitely 'happy houses' I would say.  Thanks Sylvie for your colourful and cheerful makes.

Bye for now,
Back soon,

Jean x

CLAY BAKES...

Just a quickie from me today, with a few clay bakes (inspired by Flo) to display.  I made these last week with Sculpey and Fimo - the sort of clay you bake at home in your oven.  Designed to be pendants or buttons, I am really enjoying playing around with the clay, and have been wearing this one on a memory wire round my neck and it looks great (well I would say that now wouldn't I, lol?)....

.... and this double dangly one on a thong.....

The first was stamped in Archival black ink with CI-347, with the addition of a section of CI-017 just making an appearance around the edges.  After it was baked I added the colour with Paper Artsy paints and a very fine brush, then applied a little bit of gold wax here and there with my finger.  If you lose a bit of the black line definition during painting you can re draw it in with a fineliner black pen.  I then used a Versamark pad and clear ultra thick embossing powder to give it a lovely depth of colour and shine.  The second was given a similar treatment using CI-001.  In both cases I used a pointy tool to make the holes after stamping and before baking.

I now have the following, decorated with bits of CI-443 and baked, ready to emboss and then make into pendants or use as buttons....

Thanks for joining me this evening, and do get that clay out again and give it a go!!

Back soon,

Jean x

A VASE (THANKS TO HELEN) AND ASSORTED LOVELY MAKES BY SYLVIE...

I should have mentioned this last month, because our lovely teamie Helen had an absolutely beautiful vase decorated with our stamps in the January issue of Craft Stamper (we do still have it available on our website here). She used CI-425 and CI-426, and I just loved it. The vase is a bisque ceramic variety purchased from Hobbycraft (only a few pounds).  It is glazed inside so you can put water in it, but the outside is matt and colours and stamps beautifully.  So I followed her instructions (almost exactly) and here is my version, which I am also delighted with...

... I even bought some cool fake grasses and fake lavender, and then dried a hydrangea head to put inside, and I think it will be staying around on display at home!!

I now have some marvellous makes by teamie Sylvie to show you, and the first colourful make has a step by step in photos to guide you.

Lots of CI stamps on here, but I'm not going to link to them all this time, as it take an age to do, and I'm feeling proper lazy tonight, suffice to say that they can all be found at: www.craftyindividuals.co.uk....

...and here are her steps...

Thanks for that Sylvie x

Here are some more of her lovely CI inspired makes....

... and finally....

Many thanks Sylvie!!

If you got our Newsletter recently you will know that we have some discontinued stamps available for half price at the moment.  Some are already now out of stock, but the remainder can be found within our Sale pages Here if you are quick, probably on pages 3 & 4.  The sale page is always worth a look as we do put things on there quite often, and we all like a bargain now don't we?!

Bye for now,
Back soon,
Jean x

HAPPY NEW YEAR WITH FLO....

Happy New Year to all of you, from all of us here at Crafty Individuals.  Thanks for your love, kind comments, and good wishes throughout 2016, it means a lot!  Let's hope 2017 is a creatively crafty one too. Tonight I have a few makes by lovely Flo to show you, the first is a faux encaustic tile, on a wooden coaster, and the following 2 are made with air drying clay, and then 2 very pretty cards made with CI mini images....

Here they are..

(features CI-294)

(features CI-419)

Cards, with images from our People & Places book...

 
To finish I have a couple of items I don't think I've shown you before on the blog.  We recently added some gorgeous glossy card in an A5 size to our website, and it is delightful to stamp and colour on..

Another item we added is this gorgeous set of wooden 'Love' frames..

..and this is how I decorated them (with a Christmassy look).
Of course you could decorate them for any occasion, or insert photos perhaps...

Bye for now,
Back soon,

Jean x