A Tale Of Two Kitties!

Here's my concertina book using stamps from Crafty Individuals' latest new stamp release, which will be available on their website very soon. Hope you enjoy the story!

The End!

The Big Reveal!

I didn't get round to posting more sneaky peeks, but I'm pleased to say that, since their release on The Craft Store (formerly Hochanda) last Friday I can now show you my samples for Crafty Individuals' new stamps in full! I have to say, I was a bit unsure about what I might be able to do with these stamps when I first saw them, because I thought they were not really my thing. However, I soon changed my mind when I started working with them, as they are so much fun! And as Jean from Crafty Individuals said on the show, a bit of fun is what everyone could do with just now!

There were sellouts on the two shows on Friday, so they are obviously going to be hugely popular. However, Malcolm will be working his socks off to make more stamps, and they should be available on Crafty Individuals' website very soon.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my samples. I won't go into detail about them all here, but if anyone wants to know how I made any of them, just leave me a message in a comment.

First, meet Syd and Albert, aka the Burglar Cats! I think they are my favourites! They are such cheeky characters! However, I'm not sure how well they succeed in their nefarious activities. "Bungling" is the word that springs to mind when I look at them! (NB. The "penchant for pink" quote is not a stamp, it is my own, printed on the computer.)

Next, please say hello to Luigi the Llama, who, according to his bio, was born in Peru but now lives in Nidderdale (a valley in North Yorkshire, England, for those who don't know it!). He is very clever and likes warm cheese and Mozart! In spite of his slightly aloof appearance, I think he may actually be a bit of a party animal at heart!

         

Now let me introduce you to Frank and Betty, a pair of seagulls from Seaton Carew (a seaside town in NE England)! They, like so many of us at the moment, are missing their summer holidays and dream of the time when they can fly off to the sun!

The fourth newcomers to designer Sharron Bates's brilliant collection are best friends Fluffy and George, the Trilby Cats. They may profess to be sweet and innocent, but I reckon there's more than a touch of the Mafia about them!

As well as Sharron's new characters, Jean took a few older stamps on the show too, which she thinks will co-ordinate well with the new ones. They are all Alice Palace designs, and are available here now on Crafty Individuals' website.

Here are the Crowned Bunnies.

And the Favourite Ducks.

As well as the image stamps, Sharron has also designed a set which includes various sentiments and captions, which help to bring the characters to life. Also included are smaller versions of Luigi and the Burglar Cats, making it a very versatile collection. You can see some of them in my samples.

I also made a concertina book (A Tale Of Two Kitties!) about Syd and Albert, but I will show that another day, otherwise this would be a very long post! I hope you enjoyed meeting these engaging new creatures, who I suspect may be popping up elsewhere around blogland in the not too distant future!

An Announcement!

 It was just an ordinary Wednesday afternoon. I'd been making a few Christmas cards, and watching Jean Hardy's Facebook Live on the Crafty Individuals Facebook Page, when my phone pinged. It was a message from Jean, asking me if I would like to join the Crafty Individuals Design Team! It took a few seconds to sink in. What? Who, me?? Really?? Then the excitement set in! Wow! Crafty Individuals was one of the first British stamp companies I bought from, many years ago, and they have always been right up at the top of my list of favourites! To be on their DT would be a dream come true! I was so excited! I thought I'd better ask Jean for some time to think about it, because I didn't want to make a commitment unless I was sure I could fulfil it. Jean said that was fine, so I had a think, and about 5 seconds later messaged her back to say yes please! Did I say I was excited?!!

The next development was the arrival of a parcel of the newest stamps and papers! They are all fabulous (you can find them here) and I was so excited to get to play with them. Did I say I was excited?!!

Here are some of my first makes as a DT member! My favourite of the new stamps, which have all been designed by Sharron Bates, is the wonderful "Of The Sea" (CI-559), which is an old boat with a lovely vintage feel. I thought it would make a suitable subject for pyrography.

 

I stamped the image with Memento Desert Sand ink on to Cass Art 300gsm hot press watercolour card, a good strong card with the ability to take the heat of the pyrography tool. I then used the tool to outline and shade the image. I overstamped one of the papers from the new "Wonderfully Weathered" Set 1 with some text from CI-397 before mounting the image over the paper. I added a few elements from CI-397, CI-272 and CI-349 to complete the project, which is a free standing plaque. Here's a close up of the lovely old boat.

My next play was with the gorgeous "Flower" CI-560, Sharron's stunning interpretation of a cone flower (aka Echinacea). I decided to make a journal. 

I made front and back covers from mountboard and covered the outside of them with papers from the "Aurora Borealis" A4 background paper set and the insides with one of the designs from a brand new paper set "Vintage Style Journaling Papers". The pages are a mixture of watercolour card and black cartridge paper, as you can just about see in the next photo. The covers and papers were bound together with my Bind-It-All machine.

Next, the flower was stamped on to encaustic art card, clear embossed, watercoloured and covered with Ranger Glossy Accents to seal it. Then alcohol inks were sponged over to make a background. An aperture was cut from a piece of textured card with a die from The Works, the image affixed behind it and then matted on to contrasting card to frame it. This was then adhered to the front of the journal, along with a book plate holder which has been in my stash for years! The wording inside it was computer generated. 

My final show-and-tell for now is the utterly fabulous "Pablo the Penguin" CI-557! I had finished all my Christmas cards, so I made a gift bag instead and put him on that.

I stamped Pablo, various elements from CI-257 and CI-326 and the snowflake (which I think was a freebie) onto fabric with Versacraft ink, which I heat set, and then added colour with Arteza fabric pens, which also needed to be heat set. I fringed the edges of the panel and stitched it to the front of the bag. I was quite happy with the result, but felt it needed just a little something else to finish it off. Had a rummage through my stash and found some tiny bells, which I attached to his antlers. Perfect!

Here he is in all his glory!

I've loved working with these fantastic stamps, and have more ideas for future projects, so thanks for looking, and watch this space!