Thursday 30 October 2014

October winners


I think it's official - you all love Autumnal creations as much as we do, you really did share some wonderful pieces of artwork with us this month. And that meant our task of selecting our winners was oh so hard and it's taken some time to narrow the names down, but we got there in the end in a very close run contest and I am please to announce that the winner of the £35 store voucher from Imagination Crafts is................

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Valerie
Only one word for this one - stunning

Congratulations Valerie, please mail me with your full name and postal addy so I can arrange for you to choose your prize goodies. And don't forget to collect our winners badge.

And our Top 3 are.............................
Sarn
We all love a bit of magic

Bethie
So elegant with such neat stitching

Sarah
Classic and stylish

Well deserved recognition all of you, please go grab our Top 3 badge to display on your own blogs.

I will be back Sunday with our new challenge and another fabulous prize.

Saturday 18 October 2014

Birds and boughs



This month it is my pleasure to introduce you to Maddy, another of our talented Design Team and allow her to share her five favorite stamps with us and tell us a bit more about why they fit into her unique style of crafting. I will hand you over to Maddy.....................

I use a lot of different stamps to make up designs, often mixing and matching from different sets and using 20+ on a project, so it is exceptionally difficult to choose just five of my favourites.
  
1. Ant - My favourite stamps tend to fall into categories, and those I find myself reaching for most often are nature-themed. my absolute favourite set is the acrylic "Hedgerow" set by a European company called Artemio and it was one of the first stamp sets I ever bought.

There are meadow stamps that can be combined to make some fabulous grasslands, and some lovely insects, but my favourite stamp in the set is the tiny ant which can be used to make ant colonies snake across the page!

2. Bird on a branch - Another of my favourite nature-themed stamps is from a set by one of our fabulous sponsors, Crafty Individuals, called "CI-234".
I just love that leafy branch with the two birds on the right and use it constantly in all sorts of ways, isolating parts around the edge of a piece to make a "frame" for example.

3. Tim Holtz bird - I could pick a hundred Tim Holtz stamps and declare them all to be in my top 5, but I am limiting myself to just one, the bird from this Stampers Anonymous set "Bird Song".
It's the stamp I used in my Design Team card this month and is so detailed that it looks fabulous overpainted in watercolours or thin acrylics, or just stamped in archival over an inked background. The deep rubber gives wonderful detail to all these stamps.

4. Fish
The very first stamps I ever bought were three tiny fish by Kars. The set was the princely sum of £1, and I have used it time and again in my dimensional cards. Sadly, I don't think it's in production any more, but I have used it on my card below.

5. Snowflakes
There are so many other stamps that deserve a mention, from IndigoBlu's beautiful flower borders, to Justrite's amazing sentiments, and Sizzix innovative stamp and diecut framelits sets, but my last choice would be any intricate snowflake stamp that I could use to create resist backgrounds for my Christmas cards.

Thank you for sharing with us Maddy, please do remember to pop over to her blog and check how she created the piece of artwork at the top of this post.

Sunday 5 October 2014

October challenge - Warm Autumn Colours


Good morning to you all, it doesn't seem possible this is our October challenge, where has the year gone ? We are keeping it all very seasonal this month and going with the theme of......................

********Autumn********

Lots of ways to interpret this one, it can be just the lovely warm Autumnal colours on your own favourite image, or trees and leaves, it's up to you and remember you can enter three different pieces of artwork and combine with other challenges.

Our lovely sponsors this month are Imagination Crafts and as you will see some of the team have used their products. They are offering one lucky winner a £35 voucher to spend at their on line store.


Imagination Crafts is run by a dedicated Craft Partnership with over 30 years of crafting experience.  We work with a network of nationwide Artists to produce our own range of  Rubber Stamps.  Through our Web Site we aim to provide you with inspiration through originality.  All our rubber stamps are from orignal artwork, our creative ideas using inks, powders, colour and techniques are here to inspire you. We are the UK's leading supplier and stockist of Rollagraph Products most of which are exclusive to us. 

We attend Craft Shows nationwide where we carry a huge range of Rollagraph products as well as our own. Our Show Demonstrations are truly inspiring, we support your interest with Step-by-Step ideas for using the products you buy and we welcome photography of our fantastic Samples and ideas.  Our projects frequently feature in the Craft Magazines and we are happy to share our knowledge and ideas with our friends and customers.  We enjoy problem solving so ask questions and we will try and find the right answer for you and most of all we look forward to meeting you and sharing our crafting ideas!

We have the lovely Kari joining us as this months Guest Designer, you really must pop over to her blog and take a look at her lovely creation. Here is the Autumnal card she has made to share with us all...........


And here are the lovely inspirational pieces from the Design Team, as always they have created some stunning pieces of artwork...................

Brenda
Using Chrysanthemum stencil and copper paste from Imagination Crafts onto a hand stamped background




Eret

Imagination craft decoupage stamps

Imagination craft  Bullrush stencil and distress inks

Lynne
Using Imagination Crafts Decoupage Stamp Set - Lillies


Sally
Using Leaf swirl stencil and Decoupage stamp set - leaves

Tracy

Good luck to you all and we look forward to seeing all your lovely Autumnal creations.


Friday 3 October 2014

September winners


It's been another fabulous month here at Stamping Sensations and myself and the Design Team have loved seeing all your wonderful entries, thank you so much. So many variations on the wings theme and as always we have had a very difficult time selecting our winner and Top 3 but we did get there eventually and I am pleased to announce that our September winner is.....................

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Gerrina
A fabulous fusion of colour, stenciling and stamping

Congratulations Gerrina, please mail me and I will send you voucher so you can go shopping. And don't forget to collect our winners badge to display on your own blog.

And our Top 3.................

Brenda B
Such a pretty ethereal scene

Hazel
A stunning background

Andrea
We couldn't resist this pair of Robins

Very well done to you all, please collect our Top 3 badge to display on your own blogs.

I will be back on Sunday with a new challenge and another great prize.