ATC swap theme for February

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

Oriental Challenge

We're going Oriental over on our challenge blog this time.  As usual the design team have come up with great ideas on the theme, so do pop over there to take a look.  

Sarah is hosting this theme and is welcoming a new dt member Lisa O, or Lisa's Craft Garden as you will likely know her.  It would be great if you could pop over to her place to say hi!!

For my entry this time I've used the following products:

Paper and Tassle from the Oriental Card Making Kit

USArtQuest Great tape

USArtQuest Medium Mica Tile

USArtQuest Mica D'Lites and Mica Flakes

Fan charm from the shop

I have shown a couple of close ups below but unfortunately they don't show the shimmer of the Mica D'Lites.

Well, the weekend is nearly here, have a great time doing whatever you have planned for it!

Jill

Craft Retreat

Two of our design team members, Janet and Michelle, are holding their craft retreats again this year.  Janet gives more details below...

Fancy a crafty weekend break away that doesnt cost the earth? Janet and Michelle have been running craft retreats at the lovely venue of The Beamsley Project, Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire for the last couple of years. 

The project is a wonderful venue which is light and airy with full disabled facilities. 

Andy the Chef prepares homecooked fayre to keep our bodies nourished whilst we craft away for as long as we want and any special dietery needs can be catered for. 

This years dates are 25th - 27th March and 16th - 18th September. 

The March retreat is packed full of workshops based around making your own embellishments. Lots of stamping and inking techniques and includes an altered craft box for you to store your handmade treasures. 

September's retreat is a do your own thing weekend but will always be with likeminded and friendly crafters.  

We can also fit in a visit to The Stamp Man if you need to top up your stash where a warm welcome always awaits with Ian, Jill and The Stamp Man team not to mention the large sale room! 

For an information pack then contact Janet on clarke624@btinternet.com

Winner announcement for the Blog Hop, Awards and Challenge

Congratulations ladies!!

 
Alison - Cardmaker's Pack  

Helen - Set of 4 Stazon ink pads

Kat - Moonshadow Ink set and DVD

Angela - Starburst Stain set and DVD

Fliss - 2 sheet of unmounted Non-Sequitur stamps

  Apologies for the delay announcing the winners.

Thank you to everyone that joined in with this event!

2011 Hero Arts

I've now added a lot of the new Hero Arts stamps onto our website, there are some cracking new designs again!!!

At the moment I've only put the new 2011 designs in this new section, HERE so that you can just see the new products.  We also have introductory offers on them.

I haven't added all the wood mounted stamps, as we are not intending to stock them all but if there are any that you'd like that are not shown we can get them for you on special order, the introductory offer prices will apply.

Some of the products in the 2010 catalogue are still available and are featured in the new catalogue, I will add them to the 2011 details in due course, in the meantime do look for them in the old section. 

We still have some stock of the 2010 products if there are any that you'd still like to buy (they will be discontinued when they sell out). 

I was surprised to see that the Fabulous Flourish stamp isn't in the new catalogue, that was quite a shock as it is a fantastic design and only appeared for the first time in the Christmas supplement.  I've got more back in stock if anyone wants to grab one before they all go!

Now there is the temptation for the ones I'd like for myself...  Oh dear!!

Workshop dates!!

We don't have information for all upcoming workshops complete yet but here are a few dates of those we have planned so far.

Scrapbooking workshop using Hero Arts flowers on Saturday 5th Feb with Janet and Michelle. 

You will need to bring one or two photos along with you to create a layout using paper piercing to create customised papers from a range of designer background papers.  If the scrapbook page is finished in time then we will be making a card or two using the same technique. 

Inking Masterclass on Saturday 12th Feb with Janet and Michelle.

Create a technique book so you can see at a glance what ink is best for your project.  Explore the properties of the different types of inks to become confident with your stamping.

Technique Board on 12th March with Jill Boulton

You will be learning so many techniques in this class, from metal embossing to ultra thick embossing, an assortment of paint techniques, a variety of stamping techniques plus lots more. 

You'll be using Ranger products amongst many others in this workshop that is jam packed with techniques.  

Your combination of learnt techniques will be made into an art board to take home for future inspiration.

The above classes are £20 for the day

Please click HERE to book your place! 

And HERE for workshop information

Reminder...Blog hop, challenge and award event

There's just a day left before this event ends, have you joined us yet?

Details are on the post below...