The Stamp Man

The Stamp Man Vintage Style Embellishment Kit

2012-01-30T20:16:00.002Z

I did say I would be back to today to give more information about our new Vintage Embellishment kit.

I have now added it to the website HERE

We sold these for the first time at the show in Leeds yesterday and we've tweaked them and added more to them today before adding them to the website.

The kits are all different so it doesn't seem practical to show photos of a full kit as it will likely be different from the kit you receive but the photos I've shown will give you an idea of the type of thing you will receive. We are also including a Moonshadow Mist and a Moonshadow Ink to enable you to make your own Vintage style background papers. There are many techniques your can with the ink and mist that you can play with, it is really good fun as you can use them with salt, cling film, bubble wrap, anaglypta wallpaper, textured papers and much much more! You can use them on wood and fabric (that's not for washing ie decorative purposes only), they will add another aspect to altering items!

The packs are great value and we hope that the people that missed out last time will be able to grab one of these new kits.

For those who have no idea what the Moonshadow Inks and Mists are I hope the link below will help. It has linked to a few of the blog posts I've made about Moonshadow Mists and Inks. The base of the Mists and Inks are Walnut ink with a shimmery mica colour.

http://www.thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/search/label/Moonshadow%20Ink%20Techniques

I really enjoyed the new show at Leeds yesterday, it was brilliant to catch up with old friends and wonderful to make new friends too.

I haven't unpacked everything yet but I'll show some of the embossed elements I made another time.

I'll be back with more news soon.

Thank you for visiting

Jill x

PS: This blog post is especially for Carol and Alan, look Carol, 3 posts in 3 days!! I'm spoiling you, lol!!! Ian sends hugs and kisses xx

New Vintage Theme Packs - ready for today's show!!

2012-01-29T06:17:00.003Z

Just a quickie...I've put together some new vintage style embellishment kits, they are on a smaller scale than the original 'Old Bags', remember those? Anyway, they may be on a smaller scale and without the wonderful hessian bag but they still contain a great mixture of embellishments and are still great value!!!!!!

We'll have some sets available at the Leeds Grammar School show TODAY! LS17 8GS, for the Sat Nav. The school has oodles of free parking, the hall is great as it's nice and bright. We are there from 10am-3pm, so get your skates on if you fancy a day out today:) I'll be embossing... (see yesterday's post)

More Info about the show: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

More info about the vintage themed kits: Call back tomorrow!!

Have a great Sunday

Jill x

Embossing, Embossing and more Embossing!!!

2012-01-28T13:14:00.001Z

We're almost ready to set off and set up for our next show, the 3rd show in 3 weeks!!

SUNDAY JANUARY 29TH 2012
Leeds Grammar School, Leeds, LS17 8GS (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

As you may have gathered from the post title I'm demonstrating embossing. We have some amazing show offers and the best are on embossing powders, many varieties including Moonglow, pastel shades and of course your basic detail powders.

I love embossing these hearts and they are great embellishments for Valentine's Day

I will also have some previous work I have made with embossing powders so you can see them in real life, remember these?

Plus the filigrees....

So that's what I'm playing with on Sunday, hope you can visit the show.

All these embellishments lead me on to mention that our new challenge started yesterday and theme is Embellish It, so hope you can join in, I'll be jumping in late adding something onto the DT work that is already on show there. The link to our challenge blog is in the sidebar.

Have a great weekend whatever you are doing!

Jill x

PS: If I get them finished tonight, I'll be back later to tell you about something else we will have at the show!!

Winner announcement of The Stamp Man 3rd Annual Awards

2012-01-21T12:50:00.000Z

Just a quick post to say that the winners were announced yesterday and there are a couple of prizes that still need claiming...Just giving a little nudge for you to check!

Joanna, who won first prize also wins my top prize for being the quickest ever to claim AND spend her winnings, I'm impressed.com!!!

There's still time to enter our RED Challenge hosted by Vix, you have until Thursday evening, also there's still time to enter our monthly ATC swap, which is recycled, this ends at the end of the month. Links for more details about both are in the sidebar.

Ian and I are restocked and ready to go to our next show, which is tomorrow...

SUNDAY JANUARY 22ND 2012
Rainton Meadows, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland, DH4 5PH (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

Have a great weekend

Jill x

Our 3rd Annual Awards

2012-01-07T14:16:00.000Z

Just a reminder for you about our awards, you have until Thursday evening to enter your best/favourite project of 2011 over on our Challenge blog.

The instructions are given on the post about it but we are holding a prize draw for those that enter for a chance to win £30 of Stamp Man Gift Vouchers plus there are 4 runner up prizes.

Our next challenge theme is listed on our Challenge blog HERE if you want to get a head start.

Some of you may have noticed that our website is down. What started off as a simple domain renewal has turned into a domain move which has taken longer to change than anticipated. We were told it would take 24-48 hours, we were hoping it would be moved by today, but it looks like it will be tomorrow now. Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Oh, another reminder, we'll be down in Sheffield next Sunday if you want to pop along to a craft show, the details are below.

SUNDAY JANUARY 15TH 2012
Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield, S9 3TL (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

It is the first craft show at Don Valley Stadium for a while so if you are local we hope to see you there!

Enjoy your weekend

Jill x

Shows dates for 2012

2012-01-01T16:01:00.010Z

Happy New Year!

Armed with a fresh new diary, with its empty pages ready to be filled and with great optimism for the new year ahead, I have some dates to share with you.

It certainly looks like we will have a busy year ahead! The show dates below are already booked, and we may well add more dates as the year progresses.

We hope to meet you at the shows so do come and say hello if you attend any of them. These venues are spread around the north of England but you never know, we may venture further south!

I really enjoyed attending shows last year as Ian was back on the tour with me rather than being left back holding the fort at the shop so it will be good getting out and about again.

I've made a new page above for the show dates to keep it handy for reference.

SUNDAY JANUARY 15TH 2012
Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield, S9 3TL (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY JANUARY 22ND 2012
Rainton Meadows, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland, DH4 5PH (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY JANUARY 29TH 2012
Leeds Grammar School, Leeds, LS17 8GS (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY MARCH 11TH 2012
Nissan Sports and Social Club, Sunderland, SR5 3NS (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY APRIL 15TH 2012
Eston Sports Academy, Middlesborough, TS6 9AE (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY MAY 6TH 2012
Bonus Arena at KC Stadium, Hull, HU3 6JU (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SATURDAY 12 MAY 2012
Port Sunlight, Wirral
More info: http://happystampersnorthwest.co.uk/

SUNDAY JUNE 24TH 2012
Rainton Meadows, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland, DH4 5PH (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY JULY 1ST 2012
Doncaster Rugby Club, Doncaster, DN2 5QB (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY JULY 22ND 2012
Leeds Grammar School, Leeds, LS17 8GS (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

SUNDAY JULY 29TH 2012
Bonus Arena at KC Stadium, Hull, HU3 6JU (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

SUNDAY AUGUST 5TH 2012
Harvey Hadden Centre, Nottingham, NG8 4PB (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

SUNDAY AUGUST 19TH 2012
Nissan Sports and Social Club, Sunderland, SR5 3NS (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 9TH 2012
Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield, S9 3TL (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23RD 2012
Rainton Meadows, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland, DH4 5PH (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 29TH 2012
Port Sunlight, Wirral
More info: http://happystampersnorthwest.co.uk

SUNDAY OCTOBER 28TH 2012
Bonus Arena at KC Stadium, Hull, HU3 6JU (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 4TH 2012
Nissan Sports and Social Club, Sunderland, SR5 3NS (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 18TH 2012
Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield, S9 3TL (10am-3pm)
More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

Please note:
The entrance fee for the Ross Papercraft Shows is £3 on the door, please email us if you would like us to email a printable voucher for £2 entry. You print out and take the voucher to the show.

The Happy Stampers North West shows are ticket only, you need to book in advance. Please visit their website for details and be warned... the tickets sell out REALLY quickly.

We hope 2012 brings all good things to you all!!

Jill and Ian x

The Stamp Man 3rd Annual Awards!!!

2011-12-30T12:00:00.004Z

For the last 2 years we have held The Stamp Man annual awards and we'd love you to join us for our 3rd year by proudly presenting your best/favourite project that you feel you have made during the year.

It doesn't have to be something you entered for our challenges, the most important part of this is that we would like you all to have fun and enjoy taking time to look back on your crafting over the last year.

There will be a random prize draw for the top prize which will be

£30 of Stamp Man Gift Vouchers, and 4 runner up gifts!

For a chance to win a prize you must:

- Display our award blinkie in your sidebar
- Link to a post about our annual awards. Within the post you should then either show your project again or you can place a link to your original project whichever you wish to do.
- Use Inlinkz to link to your post.

The design team show their favourite challenge projects, and what a great selection there is from the team! If you have the time, do call at their blogs to read more about their projects and perhaps leave them a comment.

Here is my favourite project of 2011

It started as an address and birthday book with a plain red cover. The reason I have picked this project is that it has proved the most useful. I have carried this book around with me all year and I did wonder if it would stay intact and apart from losing a sticker (it's probably in the bottom of my handbag!) and it looking a little more aged, it is still doing well. I made it for the embossing challenge back in April, you'll find more details about my original project HERE

On behalf of the team I would like to thank everyone who has taken part in our challenges this year, it has been such a pleasure to see all your creativeness throughout the year and we hope you will join us again in 2012.

Happy New Year!!

Jill and The Stamp Man Design Team

Click here to visit our Challenge blog for more details about the awards.

Shop and website - important update!!!

2011-12-19T18:33:00.002Z

We are still working hard adding even more products to our website, it is hard to believe that there are over 5,000 products on there already! We intend to add more features to help with your crafting, so please bear with us.

Just a little note about the discounts on the website, I have been through all the products and changed all the prices so that the price you see is the discounted price, before it just gave a blanket discount at checkout. I'm sure this will make shopping even easier!

Last posting date for orders before Christmas is Thursday, 22nd December. We will be accepting orders thoughout the Christmas and new year holiday and will despatch these, where possible, during this time. We will be back to full service on Tuesday 3rd January.

We have also started selling on Ebay, our shop on there is simply called 'thestampmanshop', so keep an eye open for more bargains there.

Now that our new website is up and running we have decided to finally close our actual shop to visitors, our last day open will be this Wednesday 21st December. We will now be concentrating on the website and will also be attending many more shows in the coming year.

We have 3 shows booked for January and we are looking forward to meeting people who are local to the venues which are...

SUNDAY JANUARY 15TH 2012

Ross Papercraft Shows
Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield (10am-3pm)

More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY JANUARY 22ND 2012

Ross Papercraft Shows
Rainton Meadows, Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland (10am-3pm)

More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk/

SUNDAY JANUARY 29TH 2012

Leeds Grammar School (10am-3pm) Ross Papercraft Shows

More Info: http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

Thank you for your continued support and we wish you a happy Christmas and best wishes for 2012.

Jill and Ian

The lucky winner of the shabby chic bag is....

2011-12-18T18:42:00.001Z

We have been offering a chance to win this shabby chic bag to everyone that shopped with us on our new website or in the shop up until Thursday 15th December.

The prize draw has now revealed that the lucky winner of this gorgeous bag

Containing all these goodies...

is.....

Lynn Wild

of Lancashire

Congratulations Lynn!!!!

Hopefully your prize will arrive in time to be an extra Christmas present.

Watch for a new competition coming in the new year!

Jill

Website update

2011-12-07T15:53:00.001Z

There's over 5,000 items reduced by 20 % on our website, some are reduced by 50%. It took some doing but I've edited them all so it's easier to see the price you'll pay straight away rather than a blanket discount at checkout. I think I deserve to eat chocolate now:)

Don't forget there's a chance to win this gorgeous shabby chic bag full of shabby chic loveliness if you order before 15th December!!!!

Well done if you are keeping up with Tim's 12 Tags, our price reductions are on everything on the website so if you need any of Tim's stuff for your tags, do look on our website as Alcohol Inks are now £2.80 each for plain colours, Distress Inks and Stains £3.99, basically there's 20% off everything!

I hope you are keeping warm, it's freezing today, but at least we don't have any snow here at the moment!!

Jill x

Make an Ornament Challenge - Block Art

2011-12-02T12:00:00.002Z

I attended a Woodware Retailer Day back in September and one of the projects I made was this Christmas ornament designed and inspired by Woodware designer, Jane Gill.

There were so many inspiring projects that weekend but this really fits our ornament theme over on our challenge blog this fortnight.

I thought this was such a brilliant idea and a great way of using all the wooden blocks lots of us are busy removing our rubber from! Are you dis-mounting yet? I spoke to a lady in the shop this week who wasn't doing it yet so perhaps I should explain... As our wood mounted stamp collections have grown and grown over time, lots of us are finding storage difficult and as more people are getting used to using unmounted stamps, it seems logical to remove the rubber from the wood blocks to save storage space.

I don't know what everyone is doing with the resulting pile of wood but we gave a lots away when we moved out of the shop to a customer who has a wood burning stove. I think this is a much better use for them.

I'm sure this idea will suit us crafty hoarders who don't like to throw things out, we can simply alter them! I think it is a perfect idea for a gift or an alternative to making a card, the greeting can be put on the back and can be made on any theme appropriate to personalise it for someone.

Anyway, back to this ornament, we used the following products that you'll find on our new website, it may look a long list but I'm sure you'll have some of the things. The Clearly for Art film is a very interesting new material and I'm sure it will work really well with Jane's other large flower designs, not just the Christmas designs.

Block Art - inspiration from Jane Gill

Large wooden stamp block
Clearly for Art
Woodware JGCL551 Christmas Verses
Woodware JGS260 Festive Background
Woodware JGS256 Christmas Rose
Sakura XYKT49 Identi Pen - Black
Sakura 41301 Pen-Touch gold pen
Woodware Peel Off Pens (red and green)
Lucky Squirrel PS8/TR Translucent Shrink Plastic
Stampendous Embossing powders, Red Dragon and gold ep
Burgundy card
Pale patterned 12" x 12" background paper
Woodware Crafty Edger starter set
Mark Richards Cluster Gems - Autumn
Woodware RIB09 Olive green ribbon
Woodware GG3 Red Glitter Glue
Plier punch, Versamark pad, crafty glue, hot stuff mat, ds tape, Glue dots

Cut background paper to fit all around the block with a little extra for overlap.

Stamp and emboss the wording background on the middle of the landscape paper.

Place the end of the block on the back of another piece of the background paper, draw around, cut out and fix in place.

Use wet glue to ensure the embossed paper is stuck down firmly over all the wood surface. Allow to dry.

Punch ribbon border with the crafty edger, the ribbon pattern comes with the starter set.

Thread the ribbon through and fix the ribbon ends to the back of the punched piece.

Fix this to the block.

Make a tag with shrink plastic stamped with a greeting, make the hole before shrinking!

Attach a ribbon bow to the tag and use the same ribbon to tie the piece to the ribbon border.

Stamp the flower onto Clearly for Art using black Staz-On ink and cut out.

Turn over and colour the reverse of the flower with red and green peel off pens.

Using a black Identi Pen, draw patterns such as swirls or dots.

Put the flower onto a hot stuff mat and heat for a few seconds using a heat tool.

Shape the film quickly to a desired finish. Apply more heat if you need to reshape any parts.

Fix the flower onto the block with a few gluedots.

Decorate with cluster gems and apply some red glitter glue to the centre of the flower to finish.

Hopefully you've managed to get down this far and are interested in entering our Ornament Challenge. Our design team's work is, yet again, truly awesome!!! There are so many different ideas so hope you will join us and share yours with us too.

Have a great weekend!

Jill x

PS: A little reminder... All orders in the shop or online placed before 15th December qualify for a chance to win a fantastic shabby chic bag. See the post below for details!!

Lucky Shopper's Shabby Chic Bag - with a new You Tube Slide Show

2011-11-13T14:32:00.001Z

To continue with the launch of our new website, we have a very special, LIMITED EDITION shabby chic bag up for grabs for a lucky shopper!

From now until 15th December, all orders placed online or purchased in the shop will qualify for a chance to win this fabulous shabby chic bag filled with lots of shabby chic loveliness!

As our old bags proved very popular, we decided to go for a shabby chic theme this time. I gathered lots of lovely goodies together at the shop yesterday, I haven't actually tried to put them all in the bag yet but I have a feeling now that they won't all fit in the bag as I got a bit carried away, (it'll be fun trying to pack it later!!!)

Anyway, as you probably know, we are offering 20% discount at the moment on all orders over £20, and there's also free p and p on orders over £20. (UK only)

So it's a great time to grab a bargain AND a chance to win an extra special Christmas present for yourself!

I've made a You Tube slide show of most of the contents of the bag, it doesn't all feature there but it will give you a good idea of what you could win, click HERE for a little peek.

To help spread the word I've made something for you to copy and paste into your sidebars, it would be great if you could share the news about the giveaway with your friends.

I've been adding more to our website so there is more choice there now and I still have lots to add, so it is worth checking regularly, if there is something you'd like that isn't there yet then please email us.

Recently added are Dreamweaver and Magenta products, they are pretty much up to date with what is now available from them, I still have loads of photos to add but I'll keep at it! Just to point out again, the discount is deducted from your shopping basket now and you can see how much you have saved on your order (and spent I hear you say!).

I've enjoyed revisiting these companies products while I've been adding them, I've mentally gathered some ideas, perhaps once the website is fully loaded I will have some time to play again.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend, it's foggy and gloomy here today but at least it isn't as cold as it should be for this time of year.

Have a great week

Jill x

New Stampendous Fran-tage stamps

2011-11-03T13:07:00.006Z

Hot on the heels of the Merry and Magical supplement, Stampendous have released yet another brilliant supplement!

Fran has been very busy and I love her latest designs, it was difficult enough to pick a few examples to show here let alone try to choose which I would like to play with

If you pop over to our website www.thestampman.co.uk you will find all the new stamps along with some inspiration from the Stampendous Design Team

Fran has also put together some great videos on the Stampendous You Tube channel You'll be able to watch Fran's Fran-tage techniques

Associated products for Fran-tage are the chunky shabby embossing powders, shaved glass

The glitters

And not forgetting the delicious mica fragments

All too yummy for words!!

Here's a few more stamp designs, if you want to see more, please pop over to our new website www.thestampman.co.uk, HERE for the powders and mixes, and HERE for the stamps

Thanks for visiting

Jill x

New Prima Paper Pads in stock and Old Bag prize claimed

2011-10-31T15:03:00.002Z

We have some of the new Prima Paper Pads in stock, plus other bits and bobs

Pixie Glen - £5.25 (less 20% if total of order is over £20)

Romantique - £5.25

We also have the Jenni Bowlin Die Cut Pad - Vintage 1 - £3.99

Plus some new papers we have added to the website, including Bazzill A4 and 12" x 12" Kraft cardstock, and My Minds Eye Journaling 1

I designed the free cover stamp for Craft Stamper December issue that is now available. The papers we used for the card ideas with the stamp were from Craft Creations and are available on our website HERE

There are plenty of other new things added recently to the website, I'll tell you more about them in my next post, for now though I wanted to also let you know that Sarah has contacted me to claim her blog candy 'Old Bag' prize. Congratulations Sarah! So, the very coveted, and LAST remaining unique 'Old Bag', now leaves the building!!

When No. 8 came up I visited Sarah's link and took a little look at her blog, and from my little peek I've joined as a follower as I want to visit again to spend more time looking at Sarah's previous (and future) craft projects, I LOVE your wanderer frame Sarah!!

I'm sure Sarah will provide a good crafting home for her prize

Happy Halloween and have a great week everyone!

Jill x

The Old Bag Blog Candy Winner Announcement!

2011-10-30T17:04:00.003Z

The winner of the Old Bag Blog Candy....

....who will win the fabulous bundle of goodies below,

who was picked with a random number generator is

drum roll, drum roll.....

No. 8

and.. No. 8 is ...

Sarah!

Congratulations Sarah, please can you email me at thestampman@btconnect.com with your full name and address and we will post your bag of loveliness on to you, you lucky lady!!

Apologies for the delay announcing our winner, but we have given Sarah extra time to claim the prize.

Thank you to everyone that entered, sorry you couldn't all win but hope you will join us very soon for more great giveaways.

We will shortly be announcing a couple of new giveaways for November that will be focused on our new website, www.thestampman.co.uk. The new website is coming along nicely now although we still have lots more to add there.

There is 20% off EVERYTHING to launch the new site plus there's some extra discounted products that we're adding to the Special Offers section.

We also have some new products in stock too that I'll blog about another time.

I hope you have all had a great weekend and have made the most of the extra hour, congratulations again to Sarah!!

Jill x

The Old Bag Blog Candy Giveaway - NOW CLOSED

2011-10-25T12:00:00.004+01:00

Roll up, roll up.... It's BLOG CANDY TIME again!!!!

It's been quite a while since we had a giveaway and I thought an Old Bag would be a perfect prize.

As I mentioned before, we sold out of the fab Old Bags at the Harrogate show, we did say they were LIMITED EDITIONS but, I saved one:) I hid it away for this.

It is one of the Game theme collections but there are lots of general bits and bobs in there too.

Here are the contents of the Old Game Bag that the winner will receive, it includes a package packed with paper/card pieces (a glassine sheet and pocket envelope, adage tickets, die cuts, tags etc) plus an 8" x 8" Bingo paper (rolled up in the kraft paper).

There are all sorts of embellishments in the bag that are ideal for configuration boxes that are not just game themed. Configuration boxes and other things by Tim Holtz can be found on our website HERE

For those with blogs - to enter all you need to do is leave a comment below this post and spread the word on your blog by putting a picture of this blog candy onto your blog sidebar linking it back to this post. If you would like to sign up to become a follower that would be great, as we'd really love you to follow our blog.

For those without blogs - please leave a comment below this post. Please note that you will need to leave your full name within the comment to be entered, otherwise anonymous entries cannot be accepted.

One entry only, duplicate entries will not be counted.

This candy will run from now until

Midday (GMT) on Tuesday 25th October 2011. NOW CLOSED

The winner will be selected at random and announced soon after.

You will need to call back to see if you have won. If the prize has not been claimed by midday Thursday 4th November, a new winner will be drawn.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

If you'd like to find out more about our old bags please visit the following links,

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-bag.html

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-bagrevealed.html

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-bag-configuration-box.html

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-bags-sold-out.html

YOU TUBE

Click HERE to visit our new You Tube Channel to view a clip about the Old Bags, you can subscribe there to see future videos

We would love it if you could spread the word about our Blog Candy Giveaway and our new You Tube channel with a mention in your blog posts.

Thank you :D

Jill Tuck x

Night Time Challenge and Blog Candy Reminder

2011-10-22T08:15:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post this morning as getting ready to leave and set up for the Stamp Magic show in Doncaster tomorrow.

Before we set off I wanted to show my Night Time card that is for our challenge this next fortnight. The theme was set by Michelle and she certainly challenged some of us on the design team!! I think the projects the team have made are all awesome, so do pop over for a look, grab some inspiration and join us for the challenge.

Our new website is coming along now, have you visited it yet? We've loads more to do but really pleased how it's looking... Here's the new link to bookmark, http://www.thestampman.co.uk/index.asp

Also wanted to remind you that the Old Bag blog candy finishes on Tuesday so if you haven't joined in yet, get a move on :)

I better get a move on now...

Have a great weekend, see you at Doncaster if you are going

Jill x

Website update

2011-10-14T19:57:00.000+01:00

I'm still busy adding products to our new website, www.thestampman.co.uk, there's almost 2,500 products on there now and still much much more to add, it's going to keep me busy for a while!!

All of the Stampendous Merry and Magical stamps are on there in the new product section, but there are also hundreds of stamps and sets from Woodware in their own section that we didn't have on our old website, I need to add pictures of the Woodware stamps still, that will take me a while I think, but I will keep at it!

We will be holding a prize draw for people who have shopped with us each month, the first draw will be at the end of October.

We've got loads of 20% bargains to launch the new site, with 50% off other items, plus FREE p & p when your order is over £20, so do pop in for a browse.

Have a good weekend

Jill

New website - open for shopping!

2011-10-10T17:22:00.002+01:00

Our new website is up and running and receiving orders!

Here's a few notes to help with your shopping on our new site that are different....

- You may need to update your bookmark for the website, the new address is http://www.thestampman.co.uk/index.asp

- As we have started the website from scratch, you will need to log in as a new customer

- To launch our new website, we are offering 20% off everything if you spend over £20. (UK only)

- If the total of your shopping, after the discount is deducted, is over £20, you will also get free P & P! (UK only)

- You now pay when you place the order.

- You are now able to pay by Paypal. If you don't have a Paypal account (and don't want one), you are able to pay by debit or credit card by following the instructions (Paypal handle the payment process but you don't need an account, you can remain a guest).

- Everyone that shops with us and spends over £20 will also be entered into a monthly draw, more details about that another time, but I can tell you that the prize for October is unique and something different!

We still have lots of products, pictures and info to add and we are working our way through as quickly as possible but if there is something you want to order that isn't there yet please let us know, and if we can add it, we'll bump it up on the list of products we're adding.

Do keep an eye on the new product section as we will be adding new things there as well as in the main part of the website. At the moment the whole of the new Stampendous Merry and Bright supplement is there.

There are also other features on the site that we will be using once we have added more products. One of the great features is that we can have 5 images for each product so we will now be able to show a card or project that we hope will help with inspiration, we also intend to link things up with our You Tube videos too.

Our new online shop is open 24 hours a day, so please feel free to pop in and have a browse around!

Jill x

Our new website

2011-10-02T20:58:00.000+01:00

Please note: We are in the process of moving to our new website, our old one is now unavailable, we are still tweaking the new one and will let you know as soon as the new site is live which we hope will be in the next day or 2. Orders are being processed as normal but if you have any account queries please email thestampman@btconnect.com

Apologies for any inconvenience caused by our move but we are sure you will find it much improved once we open.

Please continue to the blog candy post below...

Thanks

Jill

Yippee.... Computer says YEEEESSS.... to my first You Tube Video :D

2011-09-25T19:19:00.001+01:00

I do LOVE my new lappy!!

My old one wouldn't allow me to upload videos from my camera onto it, but this new one does: D

So, although it's not brilliant, here's my first little You Tube Video. I made it before I started packing the old bags so there's a lot of lovely stuff piled on my desk, lots of it has gone now though.

As I mentioned in my last post, I saved an Old Bag for some blog candy and this video will show the sort of things the winner will get in their Old Bag.

You can visit our You Tube channel HERE where you are able to subscribe and watch other clips etc.

We'll be adding more there in due course, especially now that I can add proper videos!!

Well, I've managed to get that done but I'm struggling to get the graphics bit ready for the blog candy, I'll keep at it and will be back with it asap!

Jill x

Grrr... Computer says noooooooo!!

2011-09-23T22:34:00.001+01:00

I've been AWOL as my old lappy slowed down and down to a stand still then it finally gave up:( It's been so frustratingly slow and painful to work on and I really should have got a new one ages ago, why oh why did I struggle with it for so long!!!

I got a new one this afternoon and I'm busy filling it up and making it mine:) I cannot believe how quick this new one is compared to my old thing, I'm sure computer life will become so much easier now. The difference is unbelievable, a whole new world :D I think I've lost some files for good, my fault for not backing up more regularly but it really was a painful chore on my 7 year old:( I did ask Dell about renewing my warranty a while ago when the screen gave up, the man just laughed!!! I don't think they have stock of spare parts for it any more, it's just a little too vintage!

Ian and I are now squabbling about who gets to drive the van over the old one, 'cos it is going to happen!!! We may wait until it's fully laden with stock for Port Sunny show and then really squish it ;D

Anyway, blog candy got delayed, but it will be coming soon...

Jill x

Our 1st You Tube Video is here on our blog!

2011-09-18T07:38:00.002+01:00

Well, look at me and technology... It's our first You Tube Slideshow, there are a couple more there now with more clips to follow... Want a peek at more? Visit us and perhaps subscribe HERE

The kit is sold out but we will have more available soon!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend

Jill x

The Old Bags - Sold Out!

2011-09-12T22:56:00.000+01:00

Thank you to everyone who visited us at the GNPE show in Harrogate this weekend, it was great to meet up with new and old friends. Hugs all round are always nice:) (That's the only reason Ian goes LOL!!)

I cannot remember the last time I came home from a show with clean hands! I didn't demonstrate inks or stains this time but the Crafty Edger from Woodware, that is such a clever gadget! I know that all that bought it will enjoy using it and it was great to hear from those that already have it that they love it too after using it for a while.

We took the original photo that Ian and I had when we dressed up in the Edwardian outfits 20 years ago and it was lovely to reminisce with customers who remember us around the time we had it taken, how wonderful to see that those early customers are still making cards and enjoying their hobby and Ian is still getting the blame for starting them off with it all!!

As far as their husbands go, it was particularly interesting for Ian to hear from a husband of a long standing customer that he had just attained second place in the world karate championships, he missed becoming world champion by a fraction of a point. It is great to catch up and hear all the news from customers we have known for so long.

Even Batty Barb flapped in from France accompanied by the lovely Stef and Pam who I haven't seen for a long time.

That's the great thing about shows:)

The Old Bags were a real hit and another lady came back this afternoon and told me that she'd bought one yesterday and after seeing what she had was REALLY pleased with it, I could see that she and her friend were so excited, I think they had a Numbers and Letters Old Bag.

Ian has told me tonight that a lady looked at a travel kit and said I don't care what else is in the kit, I just want that aeroplane!!!!! I know she also got a little car, I remember packing that particular kit, I'm sure she will be happy with the rest of the contents too. See, I told you I became far too attached to all the contents of those kits!

If you have missed my previous posts about them, I should explain that they are Limited Editions, and are all different. The good news is that there will be more, so watch this space!

It's been a lovely weekend, so just to say thank you everyone for all your support!

Jill and Ian xx

The Old Bag Configuration Box

2011-09-10T21:30:00.000+01:00

Just a swift post before I head to bed before the show tomorrow.

I wanted to show you a really quick small configuration box I made using some of MY kit (sorry but of course I HAD to have a kit myself to test:) ...Who am I kidding!!

I used a letters and numbers kit, now I do need to point out that you don't get everything on my work desk, and every bag is different so there won't be any straight copying of this going on I'm afraid!! Your kit will be a mystery and a challenge just for you.

I honestly could have kept and stroked all that stuff daily and I will inwardly weep when those bags go, but I know they will go to good homes so that is OK:) (Sort of) My fault for bonding with craft stuff, I'm a terror for it, Ian calls it hoarding! I don't know why:)

Sorry, I digress...

As my work desk is still full of lovely stuff (yes proving that there is definitely hope for more Old Bags), I had to make this in the kitchen and PDQ. I've not been able to craft much recently so I absolutely loved making this.

I need to point out that I haven't used tissue tape around the apertures, it's the repro newspaper in strips. Since I made this I've included them in the Old Bags but we will also sell this separately as it is fab for die cutting etc. Unfortunately Tissue Tape wasn't an option for pack splitting, although I have been thinking of how to do it... Anyway, the repro stuff is great with distress inks and does the job. Tip...try mounting it on chipboard before using to make it extra sturdy.

Right, I'll upload the other photos of it now, and stop waffling as I need to get to bed. The photos aren't great but better than nothing...

Before I go, thank you for all your encouraging comments about the Old Bags, I'm so excited about them and have loads of ideas and if you want them too, I'm sure we can organise mail order for them, even to the USA Deanna:)

Thanks for visiting

Jill x

The Old Bag...Revealed...

2011-09-08T22:40:00.001+01:00

I've been thinking and working on this idea for months and months and have been collecting all sorts of things and now feel I'm ready to reveal these LIMITED EDITION vintage Old Bags. When I say they are limited they are, no 2 bags are the same, each are individual and contain SO MANY different things and they honestly take AGES to pack but, what a nice job for me to do:)

Those of you that love vintage and all things Tim will realise that you can spend a fortune on all the packs of Ideology and you may only want one of 2 items in each pack to try, especially when making a configuration box.

So, I've packed a selection of Tim's Ideology along with LOADS of other bits and pieces. I've also packed them in themes so if you wish to make a themed box you can.

You get basic Ideology pieces and then a main item on the theme or a couple of smaller items on the theme, for instance you may get a watch in the time set or a car or plane in the travel kits.

Themes I have made up so far are variations of Travel, Time, Games, Letters and Numbers, plus a general selection of those 4 themes although every pack will have a good variation of products.

I put all the stuff on my work desk, worked out the prices for each item and counted the products value into the bag. It took time....

I then turned my calculator off and added LOADS more!

Plus there is an extra package of papers and card, die cuts and more, I can honestly say that the packs are very good value and full of lovely things.

The die cuts are some that are made from Moonshadow ink vintage papers I've made, some repro vintage newspaper, wood and cork paper, metals, meshes there's all sorts, but again, not all kits will have those or the same things, but you will get a great variety!!! There is also an 8" x 8" sheet of Tim paper that isn't available anymore in some of them.

In fact there are a number of items that I found stored away upstairs in the shop that are designed by Tim but weren't even in the shop, I'd never have found them if we hadn't moved! There are also some 7 Gypsies pieces in there too

I made a small configuration box with one of the kits, I have tons of stuff left over for other projects. (I'll show you it another time).

And, of course you get it all in one of the hessian Old Bags, that have been hand made by Caroline, thank you for making them, you are a star!!!

The bags are brilliant and you'll be able to store loads of vintage stuff in them!!

Notice the fun photo of Ian and I on the label, how serious we look!!

Anyway, I'll tell you more another time, I've still got some more packing to do so they are ready for Harrogate show.

Remember though, they are LIMITED EDITIONS, so don't hang about if you want to get one at the show. We also have the configuration boxes for sale at the show, they are not included in the Old Bag so you can choose which size you'd like to make, you may not want to make a configuration box and just get the kit for general use, it's up to you:)

I'm sure there's more that I need to tell you about them, but I think that's enough excitement for me now:)

Thanks for looking!

Jill x

The Old Bag....

2011-09-07T20:20:00.001+01:00

Thanks for calling back after my posting tease this morning, I ran out of time to tell you about it.

My post this morning showed a part of something new that is lovingly hand made and full of crafty loveliness!!

Ian thought of the name 'The old Bag', now why was he looking at me when he said it?

That is Ian's humour for you.... He'd have been in BIG trouble if he hadn't laughed afterwards :D

This is the first set in our new LIMITED EDITION range of craft kits.

The 'old bags' will provide unique storage for crafty bits or you can use it for something entirely different if you wish. The contents are all great value and you are essentially getting the bags for free.

I'm showing this Alcohol ink 'Old Bag' kit first as it is probably the easiest to explain, but just wait until you see the next kits...

Anyway, the thing is no 2 kits are exactly the same, even the alcohol taster sets below are different.

THE STAMP MAN ALCOHOL INK STARTER KIT

If you haven't tried alcohol inks yet but fancy trying them then this provides everything you need to get started, including glossy card and other bits to colour.

3 x alcohol Inks

Blending fluid

Gold Mixative

Applicator tool and felts

Extra felts (half pack)

6 gloss cards and envelopes

12 white glossy A6 panels

6 cream glossy A6 panels

6 black gloss A6 panels

Total price of individual items: £30.18 at our sale prices (£32.65 at RRP)

It's a great way to start with alcohol inks for £25 (£27.50 mail order)

PLUS...Extra Bonus items below

...And it all comes packed in its own individually hand made, 'Old Bag'

We are taking the Old Bags to GNPE at the Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate at the weekend, so for now they won't even be on our website.

I'll tell you about the REALLY exciting LIMITED EDITION Old Bag's in my next post... Until then, think Tim!!

Oh, I can feel a new blog candy giveaway coming on soon :D

Jill x

What's all this about?

2011-09-07T09:05:00.003+01:00

What do we have here?

Hessian... a bit of embrace imperfection stamped on calico....

What can it be?

I'll tell you in my next post, as I'm now off to the shop for the day!!

Jill x (Sorry to tease :D !!)

Crafty Edgers - A few cards on the way

2011-09-06T18:27:00.005+01:00

I know there is something very wrong about posting cards that aren't yet finished, but I'm going to show some pics anyway as they show some examples of the Crafty Edgers mentioned in my previous post. I'm running out of time to finish them today so wanted to take the pics to show you the borders before the light gets worse.

The rosette and lacy border are punched from our vellum kit HERE, (it is on special offer!) the Crafty Edger cartridge is the one that comes with the starter kit.

I used the same punch for the card below, I've also used Tim's tissue tape on the main tag.

I threaded some reproduction vintage newspaper though that has been lightly coloured with Bundled Sage distress ink. I have also used some other strips of it around the edges of a configuration box I have just made in place of the usual tissue tape.

We will have some of the repro vintage newspaper for sale at the GNPE show at Harrogate this weekend and have also included it in some special kits we are putting together for the show (more about that another time!).

I used the Antique Floral Cassette along with Tim's rosette die to create the snowflake effect on the card below, and the Bling Bling cassette for the edging.

The last card is stamped with our Label's 5 compatible Framies 5 key stamp along with Tim Holtz stamps. The edging cassette is Floral Lace.

Thanks again for visiting!

Jill x

Crafty Edgers

2011-09-06T17:10:00.000+01:00

The Crafty Edger is a combined 12" (30.5cm) decorating gauge ruler and border punch craft tool.

By using the Crafty Edger you can punch out a series of 2" x 1" (5cm x 2.5cm) patterns creating a continuous decorative border.

The starter set comes with a very useful ribbon cassette, that is pretty on its own or can have ribbon fed through. I think it also looks like a picket fence!

The punches work best on light weight card. Additional cassettes can be purchased separately. The punches once loaded into the cassette can be used without being lined up on the punching guide. For best results use 110gsm - 180gsm craft paper, incorrect thickness of paper or card will result in the punch jamming.

There are now 3 corner punches that match the borders, instructions are included.

I like the fact that the cartridges lock into place so there is no chance of them moving which makes them much more accurate. The cartridges stack on top of each other so they are great for storage too. Another bonus is the paddle like punch handle that is a lot easier to press than a lot of border punches.

I demonstrated these at the Ross Papercraft show last month and let people try themselves, I knew they would love how easy they are to use too, even those with dexterity problems were surprised how easy they are to use.

We've now added all the Crafty Edgers to our website HERE and will have a lot with us at the GNPE show at Harrogate at the weekend.

Here are the cartridges that are currently available

I know, the pictures are big aren't they, I thought it would help you see the patterns better.

Thanks for visiting!

Jill x

New - You Tube Stamp Man Channel - featuring a new kit!

2011-09-04T13:17:00.001+01:00

We've put a new kit together - Butterfly Beauties Purse Book and Card Making Kit – (BBPURSEKIT)

It is on our website HERE

The main item to decorate is this Woodware Purse Book, but there are little heart boxes and plenty of cards included along with extra card to make much more

To view a slideshow of the contents this kit please visit our NEW You Tube Channel HERE. We hope you will bookmark it and subscribe while you are there as we will be adding more there very soon!

Use these beautiful unmounted stamp designs along with a variety of pretty papers and accessories to make a beautiful purse book. You will have plenty of materials left to decorate the cards and heart boxes and much much more.

There are so many ways that you can mix and match this kit, use the left over card stock to make further base cards, and use the papers for mounting. The stamps and the 3 Versamagic ink pads will create unique coordinating background papers.

1 x Butterfly Beauties Rubber Stamp Sheet

1 x Woodware chipboard purse book

2 x Papier mache heart boxes

3 metres of ric rac ribbon

4 x Hero Arts cards/envs

1 x Pink fibre selection, (use these to create the handbag handles)

1 x Lime green organza ribbon roll

1 x Lime green gemstone pack

3 x Dewdrop Versamagic ink pads

4 x Patterned paper 12" x 12"

4 x Bazzil textured card 12" x 12"

6 metres of Organza ribbon in pink and mauve

1 x Magenta netting 12" x 12"

Various Chipboard shapes

3 x Coloured A6 card & envs

4 x Pastel Vellum 12" x 12"

1 x Magenta emb dots 12 x 12 paper

3 x A4 pearlescent card

3 x A4 plain card

1 x Ribbon flower pack

1 x A4 sheet mauve glitter card

I'll be back later with a sneak peek at something new that I'm really excited about. If you like vintage, I'm sure you'll like it!!

We will be launching it at the GNPE Harrogate Show next weekend.

I hope you are having a good weekend!

Jill

Free p & p on orders over £20, plus FREE GIFT and NEW website offers!!!!

2011-08-23T08:16:00.014+01:00

Many of us will soon be starting our Christmas cards, and over the years, the kids going back to school seems to have been a starting point for many to make a promise to ourselves to make an early start on them.

So, if this is your aim this year, we have fab news...

52 of the Stampendous Christmas stamps and sets from the recent Merry and Magical supplement are loaded on our website, and we are offering a 20% discount on them, so it is the best time to make a start with these fantastic new designs.

We are also offering...

Free p & p on orders over £20,

and £2 for orders under £20

on everything on our website.

PLUS, all orders placed on the website that are over £10 will receive a great free gift!!

There are some brilliant distressed designs for Halloween too, I love these... They are just screaming out for distress inks!!!

Yes, I know, we are all still trying to grab and enjoy what is left of the summer sunshine, so if you haven't joined in our latest challenge, which is Anything Goes, Summer Colours, you have until 9pm on Thursday over on our Challenge Blog, it is proving to be a popular theme!

Our next challenge theme starts on Friday, Travel, with Frankie

Enjoy the rest of your week

Jill

New Stampendous stamps

2011-08-18T22:32:00.001+01:00

I can't believe I added these to our website over a month ago and I'm only just telling you about them! Time is just flying far too quickly!!!

The new Stampendous Merry and Magical supplement features lots and lots of very tempting, beautiful, new designs.

I thought I'd show you a few here, to see more please visit our website HERE. The link will take you straight to the pages.

As you'll see they are not all just for Christmas...

I think they are really fabulous designs, and far too tempting!!

Jill

A pleasant weekend

2011-08-14T21:20:00.000+01:00

Well, we are back from our trip out to the Ross Papercraft show in Houghton le Spring this weekend, we've had a good time, the hotel was peaceful and the drive home was lovely with the sun shining and good views along the way.

Thank you to those that visited us at the show and we hope to see you in January!

Jill

Show this weekend at Houghton-le-Spring!

2011-08-11T15:04:00.000+01:00

Sorry... I haven't blogged for ages have I!!

I just wanted to tell you about a show we will be attending this coming weekend

Sunday 14th August 2011

10am - 3pm

Rainton Meadows Arena

Mercantile Road, Houghton-le-Spring, DH4 5PH

£3 Entry Fee

The show has FREE parking and a FREE hourly prize draw (from 11am onwards) with the prize being a £20 voucher each time

That means you could win up to £80 worth of vouchers during the day!

These winning vouchers can even be spent on

ANY stand of your choice!

Also, the venue has various hot and cold food and drink facilities available all day! You'll find more details on the link below

http://www.rosspapercraftshows.co.uk

As usual I will be demonstrating, this time I will be playing with a new border punch system that I've fallen in love with, so if you can attend the show, please come say hello and see me play!!

As we are away at the show, the shop will be closed on Saturday, apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Jill x

Anything by T!m challenge

2011-07-15T12:00:00.000+01:00

It's time for a new challenge over on our challenge blog, it's another Anything by T!m theme!

For any newbies, Tim Holtz has designed many great products for us to use for our crafting. If you haven't seen Tim's products before, you will find many of them HERE, just click on the ink pad and explore!! It'll open up a whole new world of crafty bits and pieces for you:-)

Our Design Team have come up with really awesome projects for this theme. Even if you are not able to enter this time, you really MUST see the work they have all put into this fortnights challenge, all such beautiful projects.

I started this technique board ages ago and finally put some finishing touches to it for the challenge.

I used the following products

Adirondack Paint Dabbers

TH - Ideology

Mini Postcards

7- Gypsies stickers - in shop

Rock Candy

TH - Gadget Gears Die

TH - Stamps - CMS088 Purely Random, CMS078 Just Thoughts, CMS064 Mini Ornates

Now for some close ups, sorry the photos are not brilliant

I was really pleased to get great crackle from the rock candy!!

You definitely need to pile the rock candy on to get the effect!

I had to include some stamped UTEE too

And, the gadget gears were a must have

Yes, there is quite an assortment of bits on this hanging but the whole point was to play with techniques and I certainly enjoyed playing!!!

I'm hoping blogger auto posts this for me as Ian and I will be on our way to Doncaster at noon for the Summer Crafting show at the race course. Please come and say hello if you are at the show!

Have a great weekend, whatever you are doing.

Jill x

Summer Crafting show Doncaster

2011-07-06T23:36:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know that due to a cancellation we have a last minute stand booked for the show on 16th/17th July at the race course in Doncaster.

Our stand is No.18

We will have plenty of unmounted rubber stamp sheets with us, lots at sale prices, as well as our newest stamps, which are compatible to use with Nestabilities. The Framie stamp below is one from the Framies 5 sheet which is compatible with Labels 5.

We'll also have lots of accessory bargains with us too!

We hope to see you there!!!!

Jill

Butterflies and Dragonflies challenge - starts today!

2011-06-17T12:00:00.021+01:00

We have a new challenge starting today over on our challenge blog, I hope you will be able to join in the challenge with us, especially as it is a very popular theme, butterflies and dragonflies.

We also have a new design team member, Angela, who is hosting her first theme with us.

For this card I used the following...

Aspects of Design Framies 5 stamps

Nestabilites Labels 5

Brown Stazon Ink Pad

Distress Inks Bundled Sage and Spun Sugar

Spun Sugar and Walnut ink papers from Core'dinations Distress Paper Pad

Silver Curly Clips

Cuttlebug Embossing Folders: Jules Jewels and Swiss Dots

Brown Brads

Word stamp from Tim Holtz - Mini Muse 063

If you are out and about near Skipton this weekend you are welcome to call in to our last open day at the unit. We will be open from 10am - 5pm, Janet and Michelle are running 3 mini workshops throughout the day (you need to book these) and I will be demonstrating too.

Have a great weekend!

Jill

Open Day - this Saturday!

2011-06-16T18:21:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post about our Open Day on Saturday. The workshops are filling up and I wanted to make sure people know they need to book the mini workshops with Janet and Michelle in advance, you can do this HERE

To see photos of the projects and other details about the day, please click HERE

I will be demonstrating and we are finding fresh bargains for the day too so we hope you will be able to join us.

Jill

Open Day 18th June - Mini Workshop Projects

2011-06-10T09:33:00.007+01:00

Open Day

Saturday 18th June

10am - 5pm!!

There will be 3 mini workshops held on the day. Janet and Michelle will guide you through making these beautiful projects.

Oriental hanging (above) - using layered stamping and embossing techniques - create a beautiful wall hanging as a gorgeous gift or beautiful keepsake. Time 10.30 till 12.

Tin tags - using recycled metal to create something wonderful out of everyday rubbish - please bring 2 drinks cans with you to re-cycle. Time 12-30 till 2pm

Mens card and scrapling - create a wonderfully masculine card perfect for Fathers day or any occasion. Time 2-30 till 4pm

Each mini workshop is £5

We recommend booking in advance HERE

This will be the last Open Day we hold here before our move and we hope you will be able to join us for the day!

There will be free tea, coffee and parking as usual.

Stamp Magic Show

2011-06-09T17:17:00.001+01:00

Just a reminder to let you know that we will be at the Stamp Magic show at the Dome, Doncaster this weekend. Please come and say hello if you are there too!

As we are at the show the shop will be closed this Saturday.

A reminder too that we have another open day next Saturday at the shop, Janet and Michelle will be holding 3 mini workshops through the day, the projects sound great! You can book your place in advance HERE.

Have a lovely weekend

Jill

New challenge starts today - Boys and Mens cards

2011-06-03T13:14:00.001+01:00

With Father's day on Sunday 19th June, this is an ideal opportunity to get your Father's Day cards made and enter our challenge at the same time.

I've made an easel card, here's the card when closed.

Jill used:

Various Moonshadow inks

Tim Holtz - Mini Ornate stamps (scroll and word background)

AOD - Artistic Elements stamp sheet (wording)

AOD Old postcard

Distress Inks - Walnut Stain and Rusty Hinge

7 Gypsies stickers (in shop)

TH alterations Hinge Clip and Locket Keys

Various made background papers for serendipity technique

Nestability Labels 8

Metal effect buttons

I used double sided foam pads to adhere the keyhole to the card and a small piece of foam pad on the end of the key to keep it in place. You will have to mount the key separately if you are posting it in an envelope but mounting it this way gives a different finish to a card so if you are able, perhaps present it in a box this way. Since I made the card I wish I had mounted the end of the key onto a brad placed inside the keyhole as then it would turn, perhaps I'll try this next time I use these key and keyhole idea-ology pieces.

I also used 3 buttons that look like metal but have plastic shanks that I snapped of with wire cutters to enable them to sit flat on the card.

I used some of the 7 Gypsie's wording stickers with a hinge clip to keep them in place.

The mount that is under the postcard and the border strip along the bottom base of the card are made using the serendipity technique. I tore and stuck various pieces of stamped backgrounds and printed papers onto another piece of paper, most were stamped or painted with Moonshadow inks to give a vintage look. I then embossed over the top of them randomly to add more texture.

I hope you can join us for this challenge HERE

It looks like we may have some nice weather for the weekend, enjoy it while you can!!

Jill

Thank You!

2011-06-01T17:03:00.000+01:00

Thank you everyone who left such kind comments on my last post and to those that have visited the shop or emailed.

There are still lots of bargains available in the shop as we are continually adding to them as we make more space. Bargains added recently are LOADS of wood mounted stamps for £1 and 50p (most were originally about £10), there are some really good designs still too! I know most of us only want unmounted stamps now to save on storage, but you can easily remove the rubber from the cushioning and wood! We are also still giving away a free back issue magazine with every £5 you spend.

The paper and card packs for 50p and the £1 ink pads are rapidly going down too, I know some of you have been amazed at the bargains in the shop, but there's plenty more so it's still worth visiting while you can.

Our current challenge, a recipe, will finish tomorrow evening at 9pm so do get your skates on if you want to enter this.

We have a new challenge starting on Friday that Michelle is hosting, a boys and men theme which will perhaps get us organised for our Father's Day cards!

A new ATC swap started today and will run for the rest of June, the theme is trees.

Thanks for reading

Jill

Sad news - a big change!!

2011-05-27T19:50:00.000+01:00

As you may have read in my previous posts, we are having a major clear out and sale, this is due to Ian and I making a major decision about our business.

Our shop lease is up for renewal, and we have decided not to renew it. We have spent time and failed to find suitable premises at the right price, and have taken the decision that we will close the shop at the end of June.

Everything else will continue the same, the mail order service, our own stamp range, shows, challenges, swaps etc. It is simply the shop that is closing, sadly we cannot justify the high cost of running a retail shop in the current economic climate.

I am working on new stamps at the moment and we have other ideas/plans in mind that we will now have time to work on.

We would like to thank everyone for their support in the past, and hope you will continue to support us. It isn't a decision that has been made lightly, as many of you may know we have had a shop for over 20 years.

So, if you wish to visit and have a rummage in our sale room this weekend, we are open tomorrow from 11am - 4pm, closed on Sunday and open on Monday from 11am - 4pm.

Have a good weekend!

Jill x

Spring cleaning SALE continues...

2011-05-25T12:14:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned in my last post, our sale started on Friday, we have some amazing bargains, some of which have already sold out. We've plenty left though and are continually adding more as we are spring cleaning our warehouse.

We are open on Bank Holiday Monday from 11am - 4pm so if you are local (or fancy a day out in Skipton) do call in, we'll get the kettle on!

Thank you to everyone who visited us last weekend for our Open Day, and thanks to Janet and Michelle for running the make and takes, (I've been asked to pass on the thanks to you from customers that visited too).

We are holding another Open Day on Saturday 18th June, Janet and Michelle will be running mini workshops throughout the day rather than make and takes, more details about these to follow nearer the time.

New additions to our sale are brass stencils from £1, wood mounted stamps from 50p, ex workshop stamps, Radiant Rain sprays £1, lots of brads and eyelets at half price plus lots of other end of line items.

Oh, there's lots of scrapbooking accessories at half price here too!!

I hope you are all having a great week!!!

Jill

Open Day - this Saturday!!

2011-05-19T21:50:00.003+01:00

It is our open day on Saturday, Janet and Michelle are running make and takes and we've sorted out lots of new bargains for our sale which starts from tomorrow!!

Bargains include half price stamp sheets, ink pads (such as Brilliance, Mementos, Stazon) from £5 down to £1.

Then there are half price (or less) punches, 7 Gypsies chipboard albums, chipboard shapes, blank card packs, button and brad mixes, and peel offs (standard and glitter) for 20p, plus LOADS of other great items.

The kettle will be hot all day, and there is plenty of free parking too so we hope you will be able to join us.

There is a map on the RHS sidebar, but if you need help with directions please call us on 01756 797048.

Janet and Michelle's make and takes will be using our new stamp designs with nestabilities and you will receive a useful free stamp that matches others in our range.

We also have an inspirational freebie for every £5 you spend:)

If you don't live in the area, we have reduced our stamp sheets on the website HERE and Non-Sequitur are HERE. Unfortunately most of the new bargains are only available in the shop at the moment but there are plenty of reduced items on the website at the moment anyway.

Also starting tomorrow is our new challenge, which is a recipe, you pick the ingredients you wish to use from the grid provided HERE. The design team have come up with amazing inspiration again so we hope you'll join us for this one.

Have a good weekend!!

Jill

A quick hello!

2011-05-14T23:47:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post, if blogger will allow it, I gather it's been playing up over the past couple of days.

Have had a fab day at the Happy Stampers North West show today, it was great as usual, thank you to all the club members that help to organise it, you do a grand job!!! It was their 25th show so I guess they know the right formula for a show now, and to celebrate they gave all the stallholders chocolates... Such a nice thoughtful thing to do, they really do know how to look after us:)

Unloading and loading in the rain wasn't so nice, but Ian bless him did most/all of that!! I just fiddled about trying to fit all the stock into the stand, it can be like a giant jigsaw puzzle but with a time deadline.

Anyway, I wanted to thank everyone who came to our stand, who bought or said hello, it was lovely to see you all, we'll do it all again in October:)

My computer broke before the weekend, the screen has broken but I have managed to get it working through the TV screen, but it is REALLY weird typing and peering across the living room to see what I've typed!! I've shuffled as near to it as I can, but it's not ideal, it will be fun catching up with emails etc.. so I won't waffle on any more but wanted to remind you that we have our open day next Saturday, details are in the sidebar, top RHS, and I''ll probably be back another time to give more details about it.

I hope you all have a good weekend, despite the rain!

Jill

New challenge - Poppies!

2011-05-06T19:50:00.001+01:00

Our challenge for this fortnight is poppies, why poppies you may ask, well pop over to our challenge blog where Janet explains all!!

I have used Tim's Kraft Resist Pad and the new Fired Brick Distress Stain. I picked this sheet of paper as it has the words memory and remembrance etc. A swish over with the distress stain revealed the resist.

I stamped the Hero Arts Engraved Flower cling stamp onto red card, cut them out and shaped them slightly.

I made the 'remember' framie image for some of the team to use for the cards. I've inked this and the base card with Distress Ink Tea Die, it looks very pale in the photo but in real life it matches the colour of the relief on the kraft paper.

It'll be great if you can join us for this challenge.

Well, I can't believe it is the weekend again, I hope you have a good one!!!

Jill

Tin Types - another bargain!!

2011-05-05T18:42:00.000+01:00

Evening all!! A quick post with another bargain for you, an assorted pack of Tin Types.

These are self adhesive alphabet bubbles in various sizes and fonts.

Only £7 for a pack of 7, yep, only £1 a sheet!!

You can find them on our website HERE

Scrapbook Kit bargains

2011-05-03T16:23:00.000+01:00

Here's another bargain kit from our new value kit website section.

SA1 - Scrapbook kits, is a set of 3 themed kits. I've included extra photos here that will enable you to have a closer look, they are....

My Guy, Celebration and Kitchen

You get all three kits for £9.99, they are worth approx. £20

If these are of interest, you will find them HERE

Jill

Stamp Man Value Card Making Kits

2011-05-02T14:41:00.000+01:00

How are you enjoying your long weekend? The wedding was fabulous, I didn't watch it live but caught up with it later as we were open on Friday and Janet and Michelle of Lovin' Ink called in and we spent our time making up some card making kits.

The kits are all themed and packed with all you need to make either 10 or 12 cards (depending on the kit), with plenty of stuff left over for using for other projects, as we know most of you will either have card blanks or are able to make your own. Therefore the cards included in the kits are also something different to try.

There are also items in the kits that can be used for scrapbooking on the themes too.

We have limited numbers of some of the kits but will be adding more new kits so do keep an eye open for something that may be suitable for you. I'm going to add details of the kits to the blog too as it means I can show you larger and more detailed photos. The kits may vary slightly to those shown in the photos.

We've also made a start on putting some more bargains onto the website, and again, we don't have a lot of these so do order them quickly if they are of interest. I'll mention them here so you can have a better look at these too.

So, here we go, I'll make a start with the Oriental kits

The kit above is an Oriental kit in traditional colours of black, gold and red. This kit has always been popular and we have brought it back with different contents. The kit includes a template by Michelle to create a lantern with the papers. As you can see the contents include stamps, papers, brass charms, coins, peel offs, Mitzuhiki cord, tassels, playing cards and many other accessories. This kit can be found on our website HERE

The 2nd Oriental Kit below has more pastel shades included, it is on our website HERE

The next Oriental kit has more brighter and bolder contents, and can be found HERE

SPECIAL OFFERS

We do have special offers dotted around the website in their relevant sections but these latest products that we are adding are either discontinued or we don't have many left so you can find them in the Special Offers section HERE. We have a lot more to add but some of the bargains already added are Hero Arts clear stamp sets, numbers and letters.

I'll show more kits and bargains another time!

Jill

The prize has been claimed!

2011-05-01T14:50:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post to let you know that Maggie claimed her prize.

Congratulations again Maggie!!

We hope you enjoy using all that yummy Tim stuff!

Jill

TIM HOLTZ BLOG CANDY - Winner Announcement!!!

2011-04-28T20:55:00.002+01:00

Thank you to everyone that entered our Tim Holtz Blog Candy Giveaway!

I'm pleased to announce...

That the lucky winner is...

No: 76 Maggie H

Congratulations Maggie!!!

Please can you contact me to claim your prize at thestampman@btconnect.com

It's a nice long break ahead for most but we are open tomorrow and Saturday so if you are around Skipton this weekend and wish to call in we are open from 11am - 4pm both days.

We've got nice new things in stock, including lots of Tim's new bits and pieces!!

Also, we have great new special offers starting in the shop tomorrow, there are lots of buy one get one free bargains, including most of the 50% bargains, so there are mega discounts to be grabbed on lots of things!!!

Thanks again to those that entered to win the blog candy, sorry you couldn't all win

I hope you all have a good weekend

Jill

Tim Holtz Blog Candy - NOW CLOSED!!!

2011-04-26T21:00:00.005+01:00

Please click on the picture for
more details and a chance to win!!

Please scroll down for newer posts

New Challenge - Can you RESIST it?

2011-04-22T12:00:00.003+01:00

Crikey that fortnight flew by again...

It's Lisa's turn to host this challenge and the theme this time is resist techniques.

I've a few resist techniques on this card, the photo below shows 2 of them, I used Tim's new Distress Stains on the new Kraft paper, the papers have a pre-printed resist pattern on them, this piece has words and numbers in resist. I also embossed the Blank Canvas Framie 5 stamp with white embossing powder and inked over the top with distress ink.

There's a lot of texture on this card as I used a ribbed card for the base 8" x 8" card and coloured it with Distress Stains. I also used Tim's compass mask.

The green card at the bottom of the picture below is from Tim's new Core'denations Distress Paper Pad that has a lovely texture to it too.

Another piece that has resisted, is the anaglypta wallpaper below, I used Distress Stains on it and it worked really well. Sorry the photo isn't very good!

I added an old piece of map with a game spinner and cog, the stickers are 7 Gypsies that we have in the shop.

I couldn't help but add these cogs to the bike wheels, the back wheel looks a bit wobbley here!

And finally, the card when closed

I used quite a few products on this card, they are:

Tim Holtz Stamps CMS088 - Purely Random (bike)

Tim Holtz Stamps CMS078 - Just Thoughts (Enjoy the Journey words)

Aspects of Design Blank Canvas

Tim Holtz Distress Stains

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Tim Holtz Ideo-logy - game spinners and sprocket gears

Tim Holtz Compass Mask

Tim Holtz Code'dinations Distress Paper Pad

Tim Holtz Kraft Paper Pad

7 Gypsies stickers - from shop

I hope you will join in with our challenge, you have 2 weeks to Resist It!!

Jill

Our new challenge starts tomorrow - can you RESIST it?

2011-04-21T19:04:00.000+01:00

Please pop in for a visit to our Challenge Blog tomorrow for details of our next challenge, Resist Techniques, that is being hosted by our Design Teamie Lisa. If you are not sure about resist techniques then we will be pointing you in the direction of some tutorials to help.

In my last post I did mention about showing a rare photo of Ian, well, here's Ian and I after a demo day. I can't remember the year but going by the fact that Amanda and Monica are in the background I think it will be about 8-9 years ago.

Talking about popping in, just to let you know that we will be open on Good Friday from 10am - 4pm and Saturday from 11am - 4pm, So do pop in if you are out and about around Skipton. We will be closed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Have you entered to win our Tim Holtz blog candy yet?

If not, get a move on, as it ends on Tuesday at 9pm!

I hope you have had a lovely day today in this lovely sunshine!

Jill

Anyone remember our original little Aladdin's Cave?

2011-04-19T19:05:00.001+01:00

I came across a couple of old photographs the other day and thought I'd show them here. I've had to scan them so they aren't brilliant but I've shown them to a few customers who I thought may remember our time there. It's so nice to know that some of our original customers are still making cards and remember this time:)

It is strange for us now though that the children that visited us are now coming back with their own children! Gosh we're getting old, and just look how young I looked in the photo!!!!!

I believe the photo above would have been taken in about 1991-1992. This was our first proper permanent base. We had started selling rubber stamps at craft fairs and shows at weekends around the country before setting up permanent midweek stands at craft centres, firstly in Ilkley, then we expanded a little and Ian opened another in Skipton.

After a few years we took the chance of taking on this teeny weeny kiosk in Craven Court, where we tried and pretty much succeeded to fit everything in, honestly it was amazing how much we managed to fit into that space, if I remember correctly it was about 8 ft x 10 ft!! It really was an Aladdin's cave.

We had a removable wooden 'window' that we took down each morning and we'd put up our sample cards. It was great for demonstrating and Ian would have crowds around him and there were often queues to get in to actually shop!

On Saturday evenings at 5pm we would close and have our own little 'supermarket grab', we had an hour to pack everything up and load the car ready to take as much as possible to craft fairs on the Sunday before they closed the shopping centre at 6pm.

We didn't have a van at the time so we had to unpack the car when we got home and then reload it again in the morning, sometimes at 5am if we had to head to Scarborough, Bridlington or Blackpool. Our weekends at Leeds or Accrington were like having a lay in! We did the same in reverse on the Sunday evening and Monday would be restock day. We had one Sunday off a month... I do wonder how we did all that for so long!

Maybe it was because we LOVED it, Ian was demonstrating embossing all day every day and as it wasn't even considered a hobby when we started, he did a grand job convincing people it was a good thing to do. As I'm sure you are all aware now, it's a brilliant hobby and other people loved it back then and kept coming back.

Nobody had showed us what to do and we had to work it out ourselves, when I look at those cards that are draped around the shop now I can see how primitive they were at the time.

I remember that the photo was taken, just before we closed one night, it was for a magazine article and we had been busy all day so it was a last minute thing. No taking a photo and emailing it over back then, it was relying on getting it off to be processed, then hoping the best with the photo and the post!

I spotted in the photo that we did have Personal Stamp Exchange stamps then, anyone remember them? Weren't they just the BEST quality stamps ever, truly the Rolls Royce of stamps.

I got all nostalgic looking through the box of photos so I may bore you with more! It was especially lovely to see photos of times shared with customers who became friends over the years, there's loads of great memories especially from our demo days, so maybe I should continue with my nostalgic ramblings.

I think the next photo I share will be a rare one of the Stamp Man, Ian himself!!! He hates his photo being taken, there's not many of them about... should I show it??

Jill

AOD Framies 5 - Antique Script and Keys - Small

2011-04-13T10:31:00.007+01:00

Another quick combination of the Framies 5 and Nestie Labels 5 die.

The background of the card is looking more lilac here than the pale purple that it is in real life, never mind! If you look carefully you can just about see that the darker purple panel has been embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.

I used the following products for this card along with a metal key embellishment from the shop.

AOD Framies 5 - Antique Script and Keys - Small

Nestability Labels 5

Moonglow Venus Violet Blue Embossing Powder

Distress Inks

Tim stamps - Mini Ornates (for background)

Cuttlebug folder - Swiss Dots

I hope you're having a great day!

Jill

Framie 5 card... A blank canvas for a boy's card

2011-04-12T00:58:00.001+01:00

Boy cards are really hard to make, aren't they?

I kept looking at this simple little easel card and thought it needed something more, but by adding the rotating sprocket gear embellishments and a little movable muse token to fiddle about with too, surely that's enough to keep a boy happy with this card!

The Framies 5 Blank Canvas stamp was embossed with silver embossing powder and cut out with the Nestabilities Labels 5 largest die. The silver embossing really popped out when inked afterwards with the distress inks.

I used the follow stuff...

Aspects of Design, Framies 5 - Blank Canvas

Nestabilities Labels 5 large die to cut the main shape and a smaller die for the wording piece

Distress inks - peeled paint, shabby shutters, and aged mahogany

Tim Holtz stamps - Purely Random

Tim Holtz - Idea-ology, Cogs and Gears, Muse Tokens

7 Gypsies paper pad in shop

Nailheads - pewter

Silver embossing powder

Pewter metal swirls in shop

Many thanks to everyone that has joined in with our latest Tim blog candy giveaway so far, and also those of you that have entered our latest fortnightly challenge, we have an embossing theme this time, so please do join us if embossing is your thing.

We have a bird theme going on over at the ATC swap blog this month that you are welcome to join in with too!

Hoping your week is going well!

Jill

New Challenge - Embossing!

2011-04-08T12:00:00.003+01:00

The last 2 weeks have flown by and here we are again at the start of a new Stamp Man challenge.

This time the theme is embossing, of any kind you fancy using, with any technique. Use embossing powders, or even embossing stencils and paste, your choice.

We have a new Design Team Member, Neil of Neelz Expressionz, who is our host for the next fortnight, so please do visit our challenge blog to read all about it

My project started off as a plain looking address/birthday book, if you flip it over, the cover is for the address part, so I had 2 covers to alter.

I wanted each cover to be a little different to make it easier to open it on the right side.

I gathered some bits together to use, I've been itching to play with Tim's new distress stains, so picked the nearest colours that are available to match the embossed piece I wanted to use.

Here's the list of things I used:

Hero Arts S5449 Fabulous Flourish stamp

Moonglow two-tone embossing powder - Poinsettia red/green

Tim Holtz - Distress Stains - Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Forest Moss

TH - Kraft Resist Pad

TH - Pen Nibs, Hinge Clips, Game Spinners, Photo tabs

Magenta 2" chipboard tile

7 Gypsy stickers - sale room in shop.

I used Moonglow 2 tone embossing powder in poinsettia red/green onto 2 pieces of thick Magenta 2" square chipboard. You can see how thick it is in the photo below and when I say red/green ep, I mean the red and the green in the same jar! (When you tilt the finished piece you can see red, green or both colours).

I added a few layers of the magic powder before stamping into it with Hero Arts S5449 Fabulous Flourish.

I love this poinsettia red/green powder!!

I also loved the texture of the original book cover so I didn't want to cover it all in paper.

I painted it with gesso as the cover was coated and I also wanted to start with a blank canvas.

Once it was dry I got down to playing with the stains and other bits and pieces. The next 2 photos show the embossing on Tim's new Kraft Resist paper, I used the stains and the embossing that is already on the papers just pops through, so there is more embossing that the main UTEE piece. It wasn't easy to photograph but you can just see it.

This photo shows it a little better, the writing is resisting! There is also some script, in black, that comes pre-printed on there too. It's just one of the papers in the pad. The sheets are quite thick, so excellent quality, and I can see it is going to be a joy to use in future.

Here are the finished covers. I used some 7 Gypsy stickers, along with a B alphabet sticker, so I know it's the birthday side. I'm terrible about having things to fiddle with, especially on the phone and as I usually have it nearby I had to have some moving parts on there. I can open and close the hinge clip, spin the game spinner and swivel the photo tab (the photo tab is from the same range as is in the Blog Candy prize).

I also added some pieces of a page from an antique account book that I have been stroking for FAR TOO LONG... too long for my own good (I must have been treasuring it for at least 15 years!).... So, I've now used a few pieces of it and I can still stroke and enjoy it :D

I added one of Tim's new pen nibs to the address cover, I will probably regret it when I keep catching myself on it, but hey ho, it HAD to be included!

The colours aren't showing too well in the photos but I think you can see enough.

I hope you will join us in our new challenge.

* * * * *

I've had a bit of a move around on our website this week, I've added some new things too, plus I'm trying to get more of what we do stock in the shop on there. I hope you will be able to find things OK, it's my intention to make things easier to find, especially all the Tim stuff as there is so much of it now! We'll see how this way works. Basically I've put Tim and all the other Ranger designers into a Ranger section, it might take a bit of getting used to!!

Jill

TIM HOLTZ BLOG CANDY - NOW CLOSED!!

2011-04-05T21:00:00.002+01:00

We haven't offered any blog candy for a while and I thought it would be nice to start this during our Anything by Tim challenge (the actual challenge ends on 7th April) so I've gathered another bunch of loveliness of Tim's stuff from the shop worth over £60!

There are newly released products included, plus a few of the items are from way back, some of Tim's first design products! The last winner of our Tim blog candy giveaway was happy to win those rare items:D

This time the prize consists of:

6 sheets of Tim Holtz 8" x 8" double-sided papers

TH Alterations Texture Fades Burlap and Swirls set of 2

TH Ideology (just released) Alpha Parts - Ransom

TH Stamp Set - Take Flight

TH Distress Stains (just released) - Antique Linen, Fired Brick and Broken China

TH Frostz 2" Circlez (can be used with alcohol inks)

TH Metalz Snapz (copper)

TH Metalz Large Photo Anchorz with large brads (mixed metals) - with family words

TH 2 3/8" Metal Disks

Please enter your details using Inlinkz

(comments will not be included as entries)

You MUST also place the Blog Candy picture (above) into your sidebar, and link it back to this post until the prize has been claimed in order to qualify for a chance to win the prize.

One entry per person only, duplicate entries will not be counted.

This candy will run from now until

9pm (GMT) on Tuesday 26th April 2011.

The winner will be selected at random and announced soon after.

You will need to call back to see if you have won.
You may wish to join as a follower to receive a reminder/the winner announcement post

If the prize has not been claimed by midday Sunday 1st May, a new winner will be drawn.

NEXT WORKSHOPS

2011-04-04T15:30:00.001+01:00

Saturday 9th April - Alcohol Ink Techniques with Janet and Michelle

Saturday 16th April Never Ending Book with Gill Wilson

The above classes are £20 for the day

Please click HERE for more information and to book your place!

And HERE for general workshop information

We will add more dates soon, so please call back another time!

A few more cards with our new stamps

2011-03-27T18:29:00.001+01:00

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend, I'm looking forward to the Dancing on Ice final tonight. I guess that's it then for decent telly programmes now that we are officially in summer time.

This card has a summery feel, I'm looking forward to seeing real butterflies again. But for now it's little stamped ones.

I sometimes wonder how photos taken at the same time can differ so much in their colours, these photos are examples of this!

Anyhow... I used the large Framie 5 Butterfly Flutters stamp, with a greeting from our AOD Floral 1 stamp sheet, distress inks wild honey, rusty hinge and a little aged mahogany. The background paper was from a Prima Botanical paper pad.

Double Framies

The picture below shows how the small Framies look when mounted over the top of the large Framie stamps. I took the photo at an angle so it's not perfect but shows that you can see the large frame at the back if you wish to use them this way. I've only stamped it in brown ink, I did this quickly to show people at last weekend's Harrogate show. It is only cut and isn't embossed here so it doesn't show all thats possible but I hope it gives an idea of how they will look used this way.

Frame Framies

For the quick little card below I've used the large Label 5 and Framie 5 (embossed with silver EP). I then used a smaller Labels 5 die to cut the inside out before using it as a frame over the wording (T!ms).

You would be able to use this idea to make shaker cards by adding acetate to the frame and sealing all the way around the underside of the frame to ensure your embellishments cannot fall out.

A simpler idea would be to add wording to acetate, fix to the frame and mount the frame, raised, over a stamped image underneath. I have it in mind to do this with them.

I've used the new pewter 5mm nailheads on the corners, (they are less bright than the silver ones).

Ian and I had a lovely day at the shop yesterday meeting the ladies and gent that are attending Janet and Michelle's Craft Retreat this weekend. They were all very excited and enjoying their time there, it all sounded fab!!!

Well thats all for now! I'll show some more another time.

Enjoy your Sunday evening

Jill

Never Ending Card Workshop - 16th April 2011

2011-03-26T22:29:00.001Z

Join Gill Wilson for the day making a never ending card here at our shop in Skipton. If you've never seen a never ending card before well, how to describe... it's a card that you can keep opening and opening and opening and you never get to the end. It is folded in such a way that it just continues to have openings to open. Definitely a magic card! Here's another view of the card.

The card you make won't be identical to this one or the same colours so you also get a chance to be creative with colour too but the basic design is the same. They'll be embossing, stamping, adding colour and creating the card from scratch so that you fully understand the workings in order to make more at home.

Gill is returning to our workshop team after being away from teaching here for a number of years, we know that she is very talented and we are pleased to welcome her back and hope you will support her workshops with us and that this will be the first of many!!

If you would like to attend, you can book on our website HERE, or telephone the shop on 01756 797048.

The workshop starts at 10.30am and we try to finish at 3.30pm to allow you shopping time. If you can try to be at the shop for 10am this allows for tea/coffee time, a loo break and a quick look around the shop. This will also allow Gill to start the workshop on time. Further information about our workshops can be found HERE.

I'm hoping to have some more workshop dates to tell you about in the next few days.

Jill

New challenge starts today - Anything by T!m

2011-03-25T16:05:00.001Z

I'm sure our new challenge will be a popular one for all you T!m fans!!

For this challenge you need to include anything designed by T!m Holtz, his stamps, distress inks, alteration dies, embossing folders, ideology etc.

Our design team have made some amazing things for this challenge so do pop over there by clicking HERE

I hope you will be able to join us in this challenge and as and added bit of fun I will be offering some T!m blog candy on this blog at some point during the next fortnight so please call back to join in with that.

So, to my card for the challenge...I used a number of distress inks on the card then embossed it with the Cuttlebug folder Leafy Branch before inking the raised pattern lightly with aged mahogany DI.

I distressed the edges of the card too to give some texture.

I embossed the blank canvas stamp from our new Framie 5 stamps with gold ep before inking with wild honey, rusty hinge and a little aged mahogony DI.

I embossed the wording (T!ms) with Moonglow Midnight Teal Obsidian ep before again inking with various DI

I hope you have all had some of the gorgeous sunshine this week, it is very welcome isn't it!! Spring has definitely sprung:)

Have a great weekend

Jill

Our new stamps are here!!!!

2011-03-17T22:15:00.003Z

The actual stamps are shown below but here are a couple of cards I've made with them so far. The Framie 5 Blank Canvas frame on the card above is embossed with Moonglow EP. I've used a Tim elephant stamp, 7 gypsy paper, a Cuttlebug folder and distress inks.

More or less the same ingredients again but I've used the Framie 5 Ornate frame on the card below with a Tim wording stamp. I'll post them again with more details when I've more time (I need to get more stamping done tonight!) I will add proper links etc next time, but just wanted to give you a little peek for now:)

Now to show you the actual stamps!!!

I've already added them to our website HERE

The first 2 images are of the 2 new red rubber unmounted stamp sheets.

You can use the images as they are as toppers or use them with your Nesties, the standard circles and the large scalloped circle Nesties work with both stamp sheets. The scallop and circle stamps can be used together and also the different sizes can be layered on cards, so both are great for mixing and matching.

Aspects of Design 64

Circle Flower Framies - £15.99

Sheet size: Approx 4.5" x 11" (10.5cms x 28cms)

Aspects of Design 65

Scalloped Circle Framies - £15.99

Sheet size: Approx 10" x 7" (25.5cms x 18cms)

For a visual size reference, the largest scalloped circle can be used with the largest Nestie scalloped circle die.

Framie 5 Stamps

The Framie 5 stamps are individual stamps that are all available in small and large sizes. Again, these can be used as they are or with Labels 5 Nesties.

Large approx size: 3 1/2" x 3 1/4" (9cms x 8cms) - £3.99 each

Small approx size: 3" x 2 1/2" (7.5cms x 6.5cms) - £3.50 each

They fit the largest Nestie and 3rd from largest if that helps!

Handmade with love by (for the back of cards) approx size 1 1/2" x 1 1/4" (4cms x 3cms) - £1.99

Hope you like them too!!!

Right, I'm off to quickly get some ink on the circle stamps now...

Thanks for looking:)

Jill

GNPE Harrogate this weekend

2011-03-17T09:46:00.001Z

We are all geared up for the show this weekend, and hope to see some of you there, if you are there do come and say hello!

As we are at the show the shop will be closed on Saturday, apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. The shop has been stripped of stock that's already been packed so there's probably not much to see there for the next few days.

If you hadn't planned to attend the show but can make it to Harrogate this weekend you don't have to buy an advance ticket, you can turn up on the day.

As well as our new stamps, that I hope to show you at least a peek of before the weekend, we will also have some new Tim things with us. Unfortunately we will have a really small stock of some things and others we will have just a teeny weeny stock of, in fact so few of them that I bet they don't even make it onto our stand! Yes, very frustrating this waiting game isn't it? Well, at least Tim's new products are trickling through now.

We will also have some of the new Nestabilities with us, plenty of Hero Arts including some of the stamps from the new supplement.

Well, I'd better get on, I hope to be back later with some sneaky peeks:)

Jill

New Challenge - Mother's Day/Floral theme

2011-03-15T20:28:00.001Z

Oops, I'm late posting my card for our current challenge!

I really enjoyed making this little floral easel card, I used the following:

Aspects of Design 28 Double Delights

USArtQuest Dicrofibres
USArtQuest Laminates
Hero Arts cling stamp Old Letter
Nestabilities Fancy Labels and Labels 5
Gold plastic button

I stamped on the laminate with permanent black ink and fused left over pieces of the Dicrofibers to the reverse before cutting out with Nestie Labels 5. Instructions for this are included with both the fibers and the laminates.

The large open daisy stamp is ideal to use with the fibers. I broke the shank from the back of the plastic gold button and fixed it in the centre of the daisy with silicone glue.

Hurray...we have some new stamps!! I'll tell you more about them in my next post.

I hope you are having a good week

Jill

Curls and Swirls Challenge

2011-03-07T17:18:00.001Z

A reminder that you have until Thursday evening to enter our Curls and Swirls Challenge over on our challenge blog HERE. I hope you will be able to join us.

The winners of the Heart theme were announced on Friday, congratulations to Neil and the rest of the top 5!

Jill

Concertina Book Workshop this Saturday

2011-03-02T13:05:00.000Z

Michelle made this fantastic concertina book for our challenge this fortnight which is swirls and curls.

There are lots of techniques involved, including some Tim techniques along with Starburst Stains so Michelle and Janet decided it would make a great workshop.

If you'd like to join them and make the book yourself, the workshop will be held at our shop in Skipton this Saturday, 5th March

If you would like to join them please email Michelle at wilmarsh@sky.com for further details.

New Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi stuff in stock

2011-03-01T17:55:00.001Z

Oops, it's been a while since I last posted, but it's a nice post to come back with. We had a delivery yesterday that included some of Tim's new ideology accessories that can be found on our website HERE

Chain tassels

Light Bulbs

Coat hanger clips

Reinforcers

Plaquettes

Game Pieces

Here's a couple of the Wendy Vecchi stamp sets, the rest can be viewed HERE

The stamps come ready mounted on cling foam with a laminated storage sheet.

We also have the April issue of Craft Stamper in stock HERE

We also have some of the newly released Hero Arts stamps, I still need to get those on the website, but they are in the shop.

Too much temptation!!!!

I hope you are having a good week

Jill

New Challenge theme starting today - Hearts!

2011-02-11T14:14:00.000Z

Our new challenge started today and my entry mainly features USArtQuest products.

The faux lace on the red background is the great tape and Mica D'Lites and Mica Flakes that add a LOT of shimmer!

The central panel is made using a piece of napkin and one of the ATC size boards that come with the kit. I've added more sprinkly bits, a small Mica Tile fragment and the wording from the Artistic Elements sheet.

I used Moonglow EP on thick card that was cut from a heart Nestie. I added a few layers before stamping with the winged heart stamp from the same stamp sheet.

I used:

Aspects of Design 62 Artistic Elements stamp sheet

Moonglow embossing powder- Bougainvillea red teal

USArtQuest Napkin Kit

USArtQuest Great Tape

USArtQuest - Various Mica Flakes and Mica D'Lites

I hope you will join us in our new challenge.

Well, it's Friday and the end of another week that's flown by...

I hope you all have a great weekend!!

Jill

Our next Stamp Man Challenge is... Hearts!!!!!

2011-02-10T09:15:00.003Z

Ahhh, a perfect theme for all those Valentine's cards you've made:)

I've actually made 5 hearty cards altogether, here's a snippetipidy peek at one of them, my challenge entry...

I actually made this card way back in November when everyone else was getting into Christmas. I was on this theme, with different materials, for a magazine entry and continued playing with what was also on my desk at the time, yes, my USArtQuest bits and pieces.

I hope you will share your heart inspired cards with us tomorrow when our new Hearts challenge theme starts HERE.

Jill x

2011 Prima Paper Pads - Just arrived!

2011-02-02T12:05:00.000Z

I thought I'd show you the 8 new 6" x 6" paper pads that we received today from Prima, they are gorgeous!!!

Botanical

Jack and Jill Celebrate

Reflections

Melody

Madeleine

Sweet Fairy

Moulin Rouge

Sparkling Spring

You will find these on our website HERE. They are £5.25 each. Each pad has 48 pages.

Feb ATC Swap - Steampunk

2011-02-01T12:07:00.002Z

I had lots of fun making this ATC for our ATC swaps this month. I love all the cogs, gears, clocks, gadgets and other accessories that go with this theme.

My only downside was that the final piece is so small! I've included some closeups below with the detail.

I embossed and layered Cuttlebug embossed mirror card and cut gear dies, mini postcards, and stamped and glued... Here are the supplies I used:

Tim Holtz Gadget Gears

Mini Postcards - Planes Trains and Automoblies

Tim's Ideology Sprocket Gears, Game Spinners

Hero Arts Clock Background - Time to Stamp

Hero Arts Big Clock

Distress Ink

Cuttlebug folders Cogs and Gears and Spots and Dots

Mirror card, curly clips from the shop

7-gypsy stickers - from our bargain room at the shop

The vivid red funnels of this steam ship were great for this and I still love adding those game spinners and cogs to projects! You can just see the tail of a plane in the top right hand corner. The gold Cuttlebug embossed cogs and gears peeks through.

The wording stickers are from sheets of 7-gypsy stickers that are in our bargain room at the shop, do you about our bargain room? There is a lot of interesting and nice stuff in there that we don't have room for in our main shop and as it's in that room it is half price or less!!

Steam trains, very industrious!!

You can just about see a bit of stamping peeking through ...

I hope you will join us this month

Jill

ATC swap theme for February

2011-01-30T17:25:00.000Z

Here's a sneak peek at part of my effort for our upcoming Steampunk ATC swap theme for February.

Is this your type of thing? If so then please join us on over on the ATC Swap Blog on Tuesday, 1st February.

The swap runs for the whole of the month, so you have plenty of time to get your entries to us before the end of February.

You can join in online, or by sending 3 ATCs on the theme to us for swapping or perhaps join in with both. The instructions are on our ATC Swap Blog HERE

Jill