NEW PaperArtsy {2013} Products: JoFY Collection

It gives me great pleasure to show you the newest stamps from Jo Firth-Young. These are her happy flowers. They are fresh, fabulous and funky. I think they are going to be a huge hit for our retailers all over the world in 2013.

Jo has already been published in 3 publications with the advance set of stamps we released (JoFY09) early January; Creative Stamping (janurary), Craft Stamper (February and March issues), and this month's issue of Crafts Beautiful. She's been a very busy girl!

Whether its paint, markers, water colours or ink, these stamps are versatile for all colouring options.

Close up of JoFY09 with Fresco's in a journal

A5 chipboard journal cover with Fresco Chalk Acrylic Paint

The 'Jo' Story...

Back in the day, about 12 years ago, Leandra used to teach craft classes locally with a few other ladies once a month. Jo was doing her City and Guilds at that time, and used to come to the classes regularly. She was fascinated with the Altered Book Round robin that many of us swapped between classes, and would always produce beautiful spreads in other people's books, it was obvious she had an amazing eye for colour and composition and we quickly became friends. 

Since we started PaperArtsy, Jo always stayed in touch, and started teaching college craft classes. She also became a regular classroom assistant at our ArtsyCrafts events (we always joked that she was the most qualified of any of us to actually teach craft classes), and she is always teaching with PaperArtsy products in many shops local to the Brentwood and surrounding area, or writing magazine articles. So that is how I know Jo......oh I didn't mention she is just a little bit bonkers on a reasonably regular basis....in a totally endearing way...we call the whimsical world she stumbles from and to (in her head) 'Jo Land'. If you know Jo, you know exactly what I mean...LOL

Jo says...

What was the inspiration behind this collection you have created?

I like to lay in the sun on holiday (hoping my freckles will join up and I’ll get a tan) but I start to get restless quite quickly so I started sketching to pass the time.  The flowers started as one of those sketches.

How do you envisage people could use these stamps?

I'd love to see people using them in any way they are inspired.

The lines of the designs are simple which makes them ideal for colouring in using as variety of products, cutting out and layering up together.

The stamps can be used for card making, scrap booking, art journaling and altered art.

If people want to take a class with you, how, when, where can they do so?
The Craft Barn:  24th Feb,  24 March
Birds in the Barn:  16/17 March
The Stamp Attic:  to be confirmed

What are your online handles (twitter/ facebook/ Pinterest/ Instagram/ Blog etc) so people can follow you?
Blog:    www.jofy.co.uk or www.jofirthyoung.blogspot.com
Twitter:    @jofyjo
Instagram:   jofyjo

What is your crafting passion right now, and how does that differ from 5 and 10 years ago?  
Stamping, stamping and bit more stamping!  I use a much wider range of materials in my craft/art now than I did 5 years ago, and I still like to combine different techniques - sewing, die cutting… & I do love to try new techniques, paints/inks and equipment.
I teach and write for magazines now which I didn't 5 years ago and I really enjoy that side of my crafting life - especially the teaching.  I like the 'challenge' of teaching and creating projects for publication as it requires coming up with new ideas all the time. It gives my crafting 'purpose'.

Jo's new Stamps...
The JM09-JM16 are Jo's minis - credit card sized images great for backgrounds, gift tags, easy cards etc There are 8 new Minis.

We now have 4 new A5 (half plate) size stamps. You have already seen the advance release JOFY09, and now it has 3 buddies to join it, JOFY10, 11 and 12. I am sure you can see how nicely all these stamps are going to work together, of course, the hard part will be choosing which to buy first!

Some samples made by Jo with her stamps...

 As you can see, Jo has been a busy bee in the last week or so. These stamps are so versatile to use, and a lot of fun in the process. Go to Jo's blog today, and she will be posting a step-by-step project for you. In the meantime, Jo has called this little lady above 'Gladys' - because she's the 'gladdest thing'....LOL of course she is!

More with these stamps from our Designers....

Darcy Wilkinson
Darcy has been thinking out of the box with this one, drop by her blog to see an amazing portrait with one heck of a head-dress! Totally had Jo and I squealing in delight! Darcy has actually done 4 amazing projects which she will blog about in successive posts, so keep an eye on her blog. you won't want to miss them!

Gillian Simson
A splash of colour from Gillian is all it takes to bring these stamps to life. Splat, stamp, job done! well...maybe not that fast...but it could be....with your splats in the right place!

Alison Bomber
I was a bit blown away by the size of the enormous bundle of samples, here are just a few. Watercolours add a soft dreamy feel to some of the samples, and then lovely sepia tones give a Vintage feel to others. Again, Alison will be blogging her projects over several posts, so keep an eye on her blog too!

Well, that's enough information from us for today! But don;t forget to check back tomorrow, we have a new designer!.....ohhhhhh!