Artstamps England 2012

10am to 5pm on Saturday 7 July and 10am to 4pm on Sunday 8 July

Good Morning stampers.

It's that time of year again when all serious stampers' thoughts turn to Artstamps England at Newbury Racecourse. Over 40 stamp brands from all over the world will be represented with lots of on stand demonstrations.  Workshops with such well known talents as Barbara Grey from Clarity Stamps and Vikki from Stamp Addicts are available both days, and for those with an interest in paint techniques the lovely Lynne Courteney from Flutterby Crafts will be sharing her skills with Jo Sonja paints too.

This is always a lovely friendly show with the chance to catch up with stamping friends old and new.

So, if you don't yet have your tickets, then what are you waiting for.........that would be the Snazzy ticket giveaway then!

We have FOUR pairs of complementary tickets to give away this year and here's the deal.

Each day this week on both Twitter and Facebook , starting today, we will give you the header you need to use in your email - remember you don't need to have a Twitter or Facebook account, you can just click the link on the front page of Snazzys website. The first person to email the store email address using that header wins that day's pair of tickets. We will be giving a new header each day so do keep popping back.

Hope to see you all there.

Best of luck xx

Mountboard Minibook with Prima's Almanac Collection

Some of you may recall the brilliant Snazzy's Design Team projects created back in April with Prima's Almanac collection. Well, confession time, the Headmaster let me have a kit too....... providing a workshop project emerged, complete, and it did! Unusual in itself, but more still when I tell you I have taught it in the workshop three times now, which is three times more often than is normal for me.

I am still being asked about this workshop so, if you want to have a go, my finished size was 6"x 4", the pages are made from black mountboard linked by black cardstock 'hinges' and with the exception of the flowers, the pearls, pearl pins and swirls all the embellishment are simply elements taken from the 12"x 12" papers. The edge on the front was cut with Tonic Studios Simplicity Pattern Punch Dotty Border which is one of nine designs in stock now. (These punches are very easy to use as they are geared and will cut through 300gsm cardstock very crisply.)

I love little books that can be stuffed full of photos and mementos so this one is very heavy on pockets, flaps and other hiding places for both photos and journalling.

I added rub-ons from Kaisercraft so this is a project I didn't stamp on, it does happen lol!

Both this page and the facing one have flaps one which opens to the left,

and the other lifts upwards,

to reveal a space for photos and/or journalling.

These next two pages are both pockets

containing tags.

Again all the embellishments were simply cut form the papers.

For variety, I used white vellum for a couple of the pockets

which just gives a lighter feel.

For the final two pages I used the Tim Holtz Alterations On the Edge Pennant and Lace dies to make trimmings for yet more pockets,

and both hold more journalling cards cut from the papers.

For your guidance this is the sort of project you find on a full day workshop at Snazzys and they usually cost £30, generally with a free choice of colours/papers. There was lots of cutting and construction involved in the book, and the material costs were also fairly high as there are lots of layers and embellishments, but it was a beautiful project made from stunning products.

I try to include a new minibook workshop each month so if this appeals, checkout the workshop timetables. The July one is fully booked but if there is enough demand then I will repeat it.

Thanks for visiting.

Back soon xx

New Design Team..............Packs

Ahah! You thought I wasn't going to manage to keep the BIG news to myself, well.....sorry for the tease but you will just have to pop over to the DT blog tomorrow where Gillian will share that with you!
Anyways, here is what our fabby Design Team will be working with for their next projects. With all things Jubilee and Olympic in the wind they have the beautifully detailed Darkroom Door London plates, the London set of chipboards from Tando, and a Versafine Satin Red inkpad (London buses you see!).

Now before I go, a word about Darkroom Door stamps. The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted the absence of the iconic tins- and no Natalie it isn't because in my addiction to all things DD I have snaffled the lot!

Darkroom Door have had a revamp, and the previously unmounted stamps which came in the said tins, will now be cling mounted and will come in DVD cases, with the previous price point maintained - I know, I know but don't shoot the messenger! (If you feel the way I do about cling, then just whip it off and clean up with a spot of Undu. I haven't managed to salvage the cling for someone else to use, but perhaps that's down to my haste to get the stamps inky.)

The large, previously unmounted, Background stamps, the Wordblocks, and the Photostamps, will remain in their original packaging style, but will also have the cling treatment and a small increase in price.

Gradually, all our new stocks are coming in the new format but we do still have some designs in the old style tins. I am marking these with an asterisk as I am loading them onto the new online store, but if you would especially like to check if we have the plate you want in the tin, then just give us a call.

That's all for now, off to plod on with the data input. Have a great, if a bit soggy, Bank Holiday. xx 

Port Sunlight Pack Winner

Finally, I remembered the Port Sunlight Pack Giveaway so I have just done the random Number thingy and the number 9 came up which is Jude. Congratulations.

'What a beautiful place. Would love to visit. Glad that you were able to explore a little this time as it looks like you had a wonderful time there. See you soon.

Hugs
Judex'

Contact me with your address details and we will pop your prize in the post.