A Girl Can Never Have Too Many……

 

A couple of you have asked for reviews and information about new ranges to be included on the blog, so here's a new feature..." A girl can never have too many...."   Now I can't confess to being completely on the ball here, but I will start looking at products and stores within this feature to introduce you or highlight places to shop and brands to drool over.  Look out for lots of sneak peeks in January as the main industry conference takes place.

So, what do I have first for you....  Stamps!

You know I'm a lover of all things Tim Holtz, especially his stamps.  I'm also a huge fan of red rubber stamps. You get nice clean crisp images from them as I often find acrylic stamps can spread a little if you're not careful.  My second favourite stamps are Paper Artsy Stamps, which you can buy direct from them at http://shop.paperartsy.co.uk/index.asp. 

If you are still looking for some Christmas stamps then check put these beauties.  You can find them in the “Hot Picks” section of the shop along with a couple of other Christmas sets.

  

Paper Artsy sell their stamps as cling mounted so you can use them with your acrylic block, or for slightly less, un-mounted.  You can use a glue stick to attach them to your block or mount them yourself with EZMount which you can buy in sheets roughly A4 size for about £5.00.

A quick note on EZMount.  There are two products that you can use to mount your rubber stamps so that you can use them with an acrylic block, EZMount and KlingOn.  I would recommend EZMount as the foam  is firmer and slightly thicker giving you a better impression when you stamp, and a longer lasting product.  If you want to mount your own stamps then a must is an investment in some of the Tim Holtz Tonic Scissors as you will need the none-stick coating when cutting the foam as it is VERY sticky.

Design Teams

Heard of one before?

Most scrapbooking stores have a design team to help provide a little scrappy inspiration for it's customers.  So far I've been on two teams, both sadly for stores that have now closed their doors, but this month I am a guest designer for A Trip Down Memory Lane.  It was really nice to be asked to join them as I am pretty sure that they were the first store I ever placed an order with, so it's all their fault really.

Pop across and have a look at the gallery, and past galleries (you'll find more of me in an old competition gallery for BasicGrey) While you're at it take a browse around the store.....  again, I will not be held responsible for any money that flies out of your bank accounts. 

If you ask nicely I'll bring the original layouts to the January crop for you to take a closer look at.  Those hearts you can see are waxed! Did someone get a melt pot for her birthday I hear you cry!

Bye for now!

Little pieces of Christmas…

 

Hello!  Hopefully you all enjoyed Saturdays class and finished off your snowflakes.

As requested below are some photo’s of the pages I had made for my book.  After that I’ll detail the stamps that we used should you be tempted to purchase some.  BE WARNED though – Tim Holtz stamps are HIGHLY addictive!!!  But the Christmas ones go oh so well with the Graphic 45 papers we were using.

 

                                                            

Fingers crossed these will give you a few ideas if you’re getting stuck.

Now then some of  those stamps….  the first three set are this years releases.

Lots of store sell Tim Holtz Stamps, but for ease you can find these sets at That’s Crafty! Laura gives great service as well and provided most of our supplies for this class.  The link takes you to all of Tim’s sets that she sells, but do take a look around the store, and don’t blame me for the amount you spend!

I’ll be bring the stamps along to the January crop for people to use them if needs be and I’d love to see how your books are coming along if you’ve been using them to document your Christmas.

Art From the Heart Workshop Taster Day!

     Art from the Heart in Harrogate are having a workshop taster day on 18th December 2010.

"Come along to Art from the Heart studios and take a 1hr taster workshop with one of the teaching team that includes Dyan Reaveley, Kate Crane and Sandra (Poppins) Hall. This is an ideal time to' try before you buy' and to see which teacher best suits your style. Demos will also be going on all day in the shop from Dyan and Bezzie Su to keep you entertained. It is also the workshop preview weekend where all the workshops for Jan & Feb will be previewed. All new workshops booked on the day will receive 10% off as well!!!"

More information here 

Free Online Photography Workshop

Another free course that you may be interested in.  This course is by Cheryl Johnson, a name you'll know if you frequent UKScrappers or used to read Scrapbook Inspirations.    Click on the link below for more info, and take a look around her blog too!

12 Days of Christmas

Catching a flight!

Hello Ladies!

Just a very quick note to let you know that the Christmas kits are all ready for when I get back from New York.  I thought it was best done before jet lag rather than afterwards.

You will need to bring the following items with you to complete the project:

• paper trimmer
• scissors
• cutting mat & craft knife
• small paint brush (artist type...not decorating type)
• foam pads/pop dots
• DST/tape runner
• large & medium acrylic stamping blocks
• crop-a-dile or similar hole punch (I will bring mine with me if you don't have one)
•   Black & brown ink pads - versafine or ranger archival.  I've used the coffee archival.  They will be used for stamping. Please do not use stazon on the stamps.
• If you have one a gold ink pad & heat gun (gold inks usually need to be heat set to stop them rubbing off)
• Scrap paper (sheet of copy paper will do)
• Alphabets - stamps, or any left over thickers & stickers from Octobers classes.
• Fine ribbon to embellish - possibly gold, purple, green or red.  Think Christmas colours.
• If you have them - baby wipes.
  
  Extra:
  
  To help you to complete your Christmas record, start taking notes and photographs from the 1st december of your day.  This could be receipts from Christms shopping, lists - to-do, christmas card, presents...anything at all Christmas related.  If you have good or bad thoughts that day about the festive season - note them down.

Sadly I cannot order any more papers for the kits but I will be bringing some extra 2" book rings and chipboard if anyone would like some extra supplies to make other ring bound mini books.

See you all when I get back!

Vicki

Free Online Class

Nothing quite like a freebie to make the pennies stretch, or to help use up those supplies! I received this in my inbox today and thought I'd share it all with you.  I've done a free Jessica Sprague course before, Stories in Hand, which has proved extremely useful at times. 

 Take a look, maybe sign up, what do you have to lose, it is free after all!

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Every six months or so, as a way of giving back to the community that has given me so much, I like to offer a FREE CLASS. I've done scrapbooking, photo editing, cards, prompts, holidays. This time I wanted to call ALL CRAFTERS & CREATIVE SOULS to join me on a journey of inspiration.

In our 10-day class together, we'll cover five different paths to inspiration:

• Words
• Music
• Art
• Tools
• Play

For each of the themes we'll have a project to make, and different techniques to call your creative muse, no matter WHAT kind of art you make!
I have another purpose for offering a FREE class: to help you get a feel for what ALL of my other classes are like. If you choose to, you can easily continue your education here with me in a variety of ways: Digital scrapbooking, hybrid (paper + digi) scrapbooking, card-making, photo editing, albums, photography and more! We'll talk more about these in class, too!

It's easy to register!

1. You'll need to make a free account here at JessicaSprague.com.
2. Just click here to go to our Gift Code entry form, and enter this code: JSINSPIRE2010
3. You'll be registered for the class, which you can find in your "My Classes" page.