MAY CHALLENGE WINNERS

Isabelle had a very difficult task choosing 5 winners for the May Challenge, as I'm sure you can imagine.  Actually she chose more and we had to reduce the winners to 5.  So thank you all so much for entering - the standard is amazing, so give yourselves all a pat on the back for showing us how talented you are!

However the prize winners this time around are:

Siobhan Fyffe for her fab clock design -

Nellie van Leeuwen with a gorgeous triptych -

Paula Tidman with a so, so pretty decorated 'bird' frame -

Suzanne Brookfield with a delightful accordian book -

and Vicky with her lovely layered project -

We love them all - and congratulation ladies!
Would the winners please email us with your choice of stamp as soon as you can.

Thank you again folks for entering the challenge, and watch out for the release of the next CI Challenge at the beginning of June.  We will also be offering some 'blog candy' soon on this blog so keep checking back for more info.

Bye for now, Jean x

A Great Idea, and More!

Helen Chilton has been having fun with our CI tags again, and came up with a great idea of making them into folding cards with 'a little snip here, and a little snip there' - now why didn't I think of that!
So the decorated tag below.....

becomes .......

So cool!  Pop over to Helen's blog to see some more!  Helen will be at the Craft Barn Extravaganza Weekend on 4th and 5th June demoing with the tags, so do pay her a visit and say hello!

A lovely lady - Margaret - sent over some images of a box she made for her son, using our stamps and some of the chipboard shapes we sell, and this is the story behind the making of the box........

'Before my son went back to Afghanistan in January (for the last time, we hope) he asked if I would be able to make him some sort of storage box to keep all his letters and cards etc in that we had sent to him on his three postings to Afghanistan.  He suggested an old shoe box but knowing that most of the cards that I had sent to him were too big for that I went in search of a suitable box.  I found one at Cuddly Buddly which was 26cm square so it was plenty big enough to take landscape A5 cards.

To decorate it I painted both inside and out with magnolia emulsion and then set to work!!  I used Adirondak and Tim Holtz Distress inks to colour over the magnolia and mainly stamps that I have purchased from you, crackle, script, post mark and the pocket watch was a freebie from Craft Stamper.  When I was happy with the coverage I then coloured the chipboard shapes that I bought a while back, but hadn't used, having seen the projects that you did for the Craft Stamper magazine.  I used the Decorative Flourishes on the sides, and the Swirls and Fleur de Lys on the lid.  The corner "protectors" were the waste from the Fleur de Lys sheets.  I also used brads and eyelets to mimic fixings.  I was really pleased with the way that I changed the appearance of the chipboard, they really did look like aged, rusty metal.

When all that was done I used an ink duster to colour the inside of the box and lid concentrating the colour in the corners and the joins and finished off the project by making some dividers for Michael to separate his keepsakes.
 
I hope that you like the finished item.  Michael absolutely loved it and it is now on display in his new home.' 

And here is the box:

Lovely idea!

Now I must show you another card by Daniele Haddon, using the corset elements plate CI-306, as it is another one of her beautiful creations.  Thanks Daniele!

Gorgeous!

And to finish for today a card by our 'team' member Isabelle Norris, which is a beautiful creation in white, using stamp CI-247 - I don't think I would dare attempt something so delicate.  Thanks Isabelle for sharing.

The CI 'team' have all been busy making inspirational projects for the next challenge for June, and very delicious they are too.  So watch this space to see the winners of the May challenge (coming very soon), and find out the topic for the June challenge - which will be released on 1st June.

Jean x

FIVE DAYS TO GO FOR CHALLENGE SUBMISSIONS, AND NEW CI ITEMS ON THE WEBSITE

Just five days to go to submit your 'Free as a Bird' Challenge entries folks!  Whilst on this subject Florence made a gorgeous submission but for some reason the link to her blog didn't work, so please go check out her blog here and scroll down to find her entry - it is really lovely with lots of pics.

We have some new products on the Crafty Individuals Website (mailing list email to be sent out soon), and here are a few tasters below.

First new pendant trays, in the 'Must-Have's' section at a great price, and we have new glossy sheets out too here and here, one of which works really well with the pendant tray (or of course you could stamp your own collaged image instead):

Also new badges and little round mirrors (both x4 different images) are now for sale in the Art Shop - great for those little presents and stocking fillers:

I also promised I would show you a few pics from Port Sunlight show, so here is a little view of the 'gallery' area on the stand, followed by a few of the demo tag pieces that I made whilst we were there:

Hope you like everything I've shown you today, and please do leave a comment if you have time, its great to here from you all.

Jean x

GREAT GREAT DAY AT PORT SUNLIGHT, TAGS BY HELEN, AND PROJECTS BY DANIELE

We had a brilliant day at the incredibly busy show at Port Sunlight, hosted by Happy Stampers.  Lovely to meet so many of our customers, and get some great feedback.  I was playing with our new glossy sheets, tags and some other new bits and pieces, which will be on the website soon.  I will show you some images on the blog as well.

Meanwhile Helen Chilton has very kindly sent us over some of the tags she has been decorating recently, which we have photographed and can't wait to show you, as they are so very pretty:

So pretty and delicate.  Thanks Helen.  You will find the tags for sale on our website HERE.

I also want to show you 3 projects by the lovely Daniele, where she has used our products.  One of the projects was entered in our first April challenge and is gorgeous.  Do visit her blog and check out her other lovely creations.

Thanks Daniele, they are delicious!

Have to leave you now to unpack the van - yuck - the bit of a show that I don't like.

Talk again soon, and keep those entries coming in for the May Challenge.

Jean x

Bluebells, Show and Projects

Malcolm and I are madly getting ready to go down to Port Sunlight on Friday, ready for the 'Happy Stampers' show on Saturday.  Do say hello if you are heading that way - its a great and very friendly show, we love it!

We managed to find time last weekend to go on a bluebell hunt (all with work in mind of course, plus they are so beautiful to see don't you think?), and we came across some sooo sweet little lambs too.  Thought you might like to see a few pics:

Adorable!

We are receiving some fantastic entries to this month's challenge 'Free as a Bird' so do take a look.  There are still 14 days to get your entries in and we are really enjoying seeing what you come up with, so get those crafting fingers working folks.  Here is an inspirational framed peacock project sent over by Ginger to remind you what it is all about:

And finally I thought I would show you a superbly coloured project sent to us by Steffi Boehme which I couldn't resist posting.  Steffi has used CI-295 as her focal point.

Wow!

Well had better leave you now - 'The Apprentice' is coming on TV and I promised I would watch it with my youngest son.

Bye for now, Jean x

DELICIOUS CHALLENGES SAMPLES FROM HELEN CHILTON

I am sure that you will all agree that the following 'Free as a Bird' birdhouse images are superb.  Made by Helen Chilton who writes regularly for Craft Stamper magazine, they are just delightful.  Pop over to Helen's blog for info on how she went about making them using CI products in a very inventive way (incorporating our new printed tags).  Helen will be demoing our products at The Craft Barn Extravaganza on 4th & 5th June.  The Extravaganza is a great event held in the village of Lingfield in Surrey, and The Craft Barn is a haven for crafters - you won't be disappointed if you pay it a visit.

Anyway here are Helen's fab creations:

And the second one:

Jean x

Quick Post - More Challenge Inspiration

We have some entries to the challenge already, and very lovely they are too.

Quickly want to share a few more images with you, on the theme of the challenge.

Firstly Sue, from Paper Paradise, has been very busy creating this amazing wall hanging - lots of work in this one, thanks Sue.

Then another of Isabelle's lovely creations, which just seemed to fit the bill:

And then three adorable nesting bird creations sent over from Lynne Moncrieff, do check out Lynne's blog as she also has some other amazing work on there, including her latest entry using our 'corset' plate.

One of the above was published in Stampers Sampler - just irresistible.

Thanks all,
Jean x

CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS CHALLENGE - MAY 2011

Thanks to all for making the first CI Challenge a great success, and now here are the guidelines followed by the subject matter, for the second challenge for May.

CHALLENGE GUIDELINES

To enter this month’s Crafty Individuals Challenge please put together your project, following the subject material outlined below (your project should include at least one Crafty Individuals product please), then:

Post your challenge project on your blog, before the 26^th of the month, and include a link back to this blog,

Leave a link in the URL box to take us directly to your challenge project, etc. – which will then appear here on this blog as a thumbnail image – so we can all see your wonderful work.

At the end of the month the CI team and/or guests will set about choosing five lucky participants, each of whom will win a CI rubber stamp of their choice.

Go for it and enjoy the challenge x

 

CHALLENGE SUBJECT MATTER

The lovely Isabelle Norris of Ontario, Canada, has kindly given us the title for May's Challenge which is 'FREE AS A BIRD', and Isa will also be judging on this one.  And as inspiration Isabelle has sent me two very gorgeous projects, and additionally for one of the projects has made a great slideshow with step by step pictures which I think you will find attractive and useful.

First project by Isabelle, and her slide show can be found HERE

And her second project:

Wow!

My offering for this one next - in more subtle colours than my usual style; more of an ornament than a card:

Followed by three other projects by the 'Team' - a lush hanging, in a very rustic setting, by Zuzu

A fab tag by Jo Capper Sandon

And finally for today a pretty piece with danglies by Lucy:

All projects based around the challenge theme of FREE AS A BIRD.

Hope you have found the images inspirational, please do join in and we will be using the same 'InLinkz' system as before.  Don't forget your project should include at least one of our products please.

Entries can be linked in to this blog starting at 1pm today 1st May, until 25th May at 1am.

Can't wait to see what you all come up with this time around.

Jean x