A Special {Darcy} video with a new Xmas release

Hi everyone, or should that be an early Ho Ho Ho!

As you know, back in August as part of the finale to her Guest Designer series on the blog, we released these 2 plates with Darcy EDY01 and EDY02.

And you might be aware that I inadvertently let slip on twitter a few weeks back that there were new plates almost ready, so ever since we have been relentlessly harassed on twitter for the actual release date. We managed to stoically stick to our guns and the scheduled release of Darcy's much anticipated new Xmas stamp for 2013 is now upon us!

Here they are...tadaaaaaa EDY03 and EDY04

I think they are fabulous.... but of course I am biased, so there is nothing like hearing about them from Darcy herself. She popped into HQ yesterday, we shot this video and it's so nice  to hear direct from her the behind the scenes low down on some of the elements, and how they all came together.




They are now available online to order, and we are ready to ship immediately too!

If you want to see more of Darcy's work, then check out what she did on the PaperArtsy blog (hint: run a search for Darcy) in the second semester of 2013 (May-August) , Or of course drop by her blog, Art and Sole where you can see many PA-related items she has created in her inimitable way!

Thanks Darcy, and huge congratulations on another wonderful stamp release!

Introducing ... Suzanne Czosek, Guest Designer

Please welcome our fourth and final Guest Designer this month here at PaperArtsy, the very talented Suzanne Czosek (aka Suzz)!  

Here are some of the gorgeous samples she has featured on her blog lately using images and products from a number of stamp companies. Each picture links back to the post she blogged, so go check out what she's been up to of late!

 

When Suzz is not Project Managing by day or running a busy family life, she loves nothing better than retreating to her craft room to ink up those stamps and experiment with colour to create the most divine mixed media projects, as you can see!

"Here's what Suzz has to say"

"Hi Suzz here!  I am so pleased to be guest designing for PaperArtsy. My first love is stamping playing with new inks, paints and surfaces which makes PaperArtsy products a perfect fit. I work full time as a project manager, I have a lovely husband who is tolerant of my crafty endeavors and three children 17, 15, and 11.  We have a guinea pig, and two dogs. Our house is always going with all the family activities but I always find time in my craft room to create. My creative time is usually early in the morning before anyone else is up and moving in the house which gives me time to create without interruption". 

Suzz will be here with her 1st project tomorrow night ... you are going to love what you see!

If you would like to join this week's challenge and play along with us via inLinkz, please take a moment to share how you have been inspired by her creativity with PaperArtsy products. Use some/all of the following: PaperArtsy Stamps, Fresco Paints, Metal Card (or metal) and you will be in with a chance to win stamps of your choice {either 1 x A5 set or 2 x A6 sets or 3 minis} 

We have 2 draws each week, the first is for every single entry submitted that week, including multiples. The second draw is one entry per person, and excludes the winner of round one. This means if you can only enter once, then you have the same chance of winning as those who enter multiple times. Please link directly to the URL of your blog post, select one of the pictures from your own blog post. The link facility will end Sunday lunch, and the winner will be announced this time next week. 

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The random winner #1 (drawn from all submitted entries) from last week is: Kirsten

Random winner #2 (drawn from 1 entry per person) is: Mark

 

Congratulations! Please email Leandra sales@paperartsy.co.uk with your stamp choice, and your snail mail address! 

Introducing ... Linda Cain, Guest Designer

The third Guest Designer this month is the one and only, world famous Linda Cain. I was first wowwed by Linda's work when I visited the CHA trade show, and saw many of her beautiful samples on various stands at the show. Over the years, she has created so many incredible samples for Tim Holtz, Ranger, Graphic 45, to name just a few brands, and I have long admired her skill and amazing creations with Ten Seconds Studio's metal products. Linda is very much a PaperArtsy genre gal, but she really has not had many opportunities to use our stuff. But I know this is right up her street, so we were thrilled when she could find time to guest for us. She has taken to Frescos like a duck to water, so kick back, and enjoy the week ahead. I'm sure you'll want to play along too.

Here's a few words from Linda herself .... 

"I still vividly remember the first time I actually, physically, saw and held a PaperArtsy stamp in my hand! The style, the detail, the subject matter were like a dreamland to me. So when Leandra emailed me, yes ME, and asked me to be a Guest Designer, I nearly flipped out! My dear friend Lin Brown had been using the Fresco Finish Paints to everyone's delight for quite a while and loved them, but I could not have ever imagined the quality nor the brilliance of the images you get when using them with stamps! They knocked my socks off!!! And I'm not easily impressed. And like Michelle, when the huge box of goodies arrived, my family thought I'd gone bonkers. Well, they were right. It's opened up a whole new world for me. 

So "hang onto your diapers babies, we're goin' in!" ~ Rugrats in Paris! (a favorite family quotation...you had to be there.)"

Linda will be here tomorrow with her first project and here's a hint......it's totes amazeballs .....with or without diapers!

As Linda has a big American following, here's some info on how to get PaperArtsy stuff in the USA. We do get a lot of emails from people wondering how to buy our products in the USA. The following stores order from us regularly to sell varous PaperArtsy lines in their USA outlets:

Absolutely Everything: Squiggly Ink, Hot Picks, Lynne Perrella, Fresco Acrylic Paint, Minis.
Blockhead Rubber Stamps: Ink and the Dog, Lynne Perella, Squiggly Ink.
Simon Says Stamp: Hot Picks, Dies, Fresco Acrylic Paint, Ink and the Dog Minis, Papers.
Stamp Diva: Ink and the Dog, Urban Snapshots, Lynne Perrella, Hot Picks.
The Ink Pad: Lynne Perrella, Minis, Vintage Ink and the Dog, Hot Picks, Ink and the Dog, Urban Snapshots.
The Occasional Artist: Hot Picks, Minis, JoFY, Lynne Perrella.
The Stamproom: Hot Picks, Dies, Urban Snapshots, Squiggly Ink.

If you cannot find an item, then we suggest you contact one of those stores, and ask them to order it in for you. We always prefer that you support your local stamp store wherever possible. If stores get enough requests from you, then they will order from us. So please email them to request items if they are out of stock, or not in their shops yet.

If it is an item they do not, or don't intend to stock, then you can buy from direct from PaperArtsy, we do ship worldwide. Our cart can be converted into USA Dollars at the live exchange rate if you click the currency link top right of any page, and if you use 'worldpay' as the checkout payment gateway, you can pay by your credit card in US dollars, which means no big exchange fee. Once you tell the shopping cart where you live, it will calculate freight based on the weight of the items in your shopping basket. It's not cheap! It usually takes at least 5 working days by post. Orders over 2 kg will be shipped via a courier service like UPS. So if you can buy local from one of the suppliers above, it's a much better option for you. If you have any questions, email sales@paperartsy.co.uk for help.

We expect you will be inspired by Linda's posts this week, so if you would like to play along with us, please share with us all what you have cooked up in your neck of the woods. 

Use PaperArtsy Stamps, Fresco Paint and you will be in with a chance to win stamps of your choice {either 1 x A5 set or 2 x A6 sets or 3 minis} 

Please link directly to the URL of your blog post, select one of the pictures from your own blog post. The link facility will end Saturday evening, and the winner will be announced this time next week.

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The winner of Round 1 from last week is: #11 Sam

Round 2 winner is #5 Trish

Congratulations! Please email Leandra sales@paperartsy.co.uk with your stamp choice, and snail mail address

Introducing ... Helen Chilton, Guest Designer

The second Guest Designer to PaperArtsy's shores is the very quirky Helen Chilton. Helen is no stranger to PaperArtsy products, she has frequently used them in her articles for Craft Stamper magazine, and often can be seen demoing and teaching at the Craft Barn. So I'm sure many of you will already know she has a soft spot for Lynne Perrella's stamps

Here's a few words from Helen herself .... 

"I remember the first time I saw PaperArtsy stamps was at an Ally Pally show many years ago - they were doing a special offer of 'buy so many sets and get one free'. Well, I tell you, I stood there for aaaaaages trying to chooses, as I really wanted them all!

They caught my eye because they were collagey, grungy, quirky and different. Each set had a bit of everything - images, backgrounds, text. Even the name 'Ink and the Dog' appealed! (always meant to ask where that came from - do you have a dog?)

Over the years I've waited for all the new releases with baited breath, watched all the product lines develop and, many years later, am still a great fan, still collecting  and lucky enough to be a Guest Designer!

Mind you, when I heard I was doing the first semester, I had to get down to it and work my little socks off to have things ready by January 1st.

I decided to use an experimental approach, looking at some of the products specific to PaperArtsy (Portfolios, Fresco paints etc) and how I use them in projects.

I've just gone for it, warts and all. I've taken pics as I've worked, shown what I liked and what I didn't, what worked and what didn't, what I discovered and all the happy little accidents along the way. I hope you enjoy the results as much as I've enjoyed the process."

Helen will be here tomorrow with her first project and here's a hint......it's beautifully bold and bright so check back tomorrow!

We expect you will be inspired by Helen's posts this week, so if you would like to play along with us via Mr Linky, we'd love to see what you have made.

Use PaperArtsy Stamps, and Portfolio Oil Pastels (or something similar water soluble crayon/ pencil etc), and you will be in with a chance to win stamps of your choice {either 1 x A5 set or 2 x A6 sets or 3 minis or a full set of Portfolio Oil Pastels}

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Please link directly to the URL of your blog post, select one of the pictures from your own blog post. The link facility will end Saturday evening, and the winner will be announced this time next week.

The winner from last week is: #4 Trace

Congratulations! Please email Leandra sales@paperartsy.co.uk with your stamp choice, and snail mail address 

Much {Blog} Excitement Ahead

Hi everyone

Well we have been scheming for the last few months, but to be honest, this is an idea I have been mulling over for about 2 years. But it required the right person to co-ordinate, and finally last year the right person popped up to co-ordinate it for me, so we are all action stations! but first let me explain to you what I see happening here this year.

The whole Design Team blog thing can easily become a chore, for the organisers, the contributors and so on, it's so much more work than you would ever expect to keep everyone on task, and my schedule isn't consistent enough for me to be able to do that as efficiently as i would like, so I came up with a solution that works for me, and most importantly gives you, the blog follower, more variety of content and therefore in theory it should keep it fresh with a far wider variety of content from a number of fabulous people.

So we have enlisted a bunch of people to be short-term Guest Contributors for a semester only. Some of them may be well known bloggers (but not necessarily from your neck of the woods), and others you may not know at all. It really doesn't matter to me how long they have been blogging or doing what they do or how many followers they have etc. That is not what this is about.

What matters to me is they are passionate about what they do and how they do it. They are uniquely creative and perhaps i have noticed they show a real strength with a particular PaperArtsy product line. They are sure of their own style and, most importantly they are all very willing to share the utter nitty gritty of how they create with you! Sounds good to me!

I am so excited to see what is going on in their heads as they work, how they recover if it doesn't go quite to plan, and if they actually have a master plan, how do they get there? Some of them are nervous and feel a bit out of their depth because they are quite new to crafting or stamping even, others are like the energizer bunny bouncing of the walls in anticipation, but each of them I am so absolutely grateful to for agreeing to share with you their spin on using PaperArtsy Products. It's so nice for me to see how other people like to use our stuff, and to be able to feature those ideas on this blog is awesome!

I don't want a bunch of mini-me's out there, I know what I like, and how I like to do it, but that might not be your thing. You need to find your *thing*. I guess that is why I tend to teach techniques, because it's a starting point from which you can easily twist to find your own personal preference.  My passion for the readers of this blog is for you each to find your own unique style, colour preferences, mediums, products etc. and to express using them in a way that you enjoy. 

We all can always grow, move on and learn something new, whether we are beginners, intermediates or experienced, the learning curve never ends, there is always something new around the corner. Being willing to learn, try things out, have a go, that is what helps you to find yourself, how you like to create, and the things that push your buttons. What others think isn't important, it's what you enjoy doing that is.  So my wish for you, is that this blog, and these people will be a small part in your creative path this year, and that you will find and adapt ideas into new and interesting ways to express yourself.

Every Sunday night we will let you know who is up the following week. But for now, can I say how happy I am that Gillian Simson has offered to be the Chief coordinator behind the scenes. Thank you sooooo much (from all of us) in advance!

So, look out this coming Sunday to see who will be first up for 2013!

Amazing piece by Paula Tidman

And while Mark was mooching about setting up our PaperArtsy Pinterest page he stumbled on this Fabulous piece by Paula Tidman featured here on the That's Crafty blog. Go check it out, I love the colours. She has used Lynne Perrella Stamps, they look gorgeous!

Happy stamping times ahead of us all!

Leandra