Spooky, Spooky, Spooky!

I couldn't wait to play with these cute CC Design stamps. These little characters are part of the CC Designs - Spooky Scenery and Spooky, Spooky, Spooky sets. I love that these stamps come in their own little metal storage tins. I have also changed my colouring technique for this card and thought i'd have a little play with my Copic sketch markers and ProMakers. I am so used to using my Prisma Pencils but don't think it turned out too bad eh? I also used the ProMarker Blender Pen to remove some of the colour to create highlights. I used Momento ink to stamp the images and this is just perfect for using with ProMarkers and you can stamp and colour straight away!

Back soon with some more cute characters from the High Hopes new releases.

Hugs,

Boo! to you

Couldn't help but play with another CC-design halloween character!


This little fellow is from the Spooky, Spooky set that you can find here
He is coloured with promarker pens that are also available in the shop

This is a mini fold-out album and when opened up the inside looks like this:

I have matted the photo's onto green patterned paper to make them stand out and used near enough all my halloween embellishment stickers and tags I could find.

The page with the hounted house is also a pocket which holds my journaling tag, more photo's and my trickets from the venue!

Again.. Congrats to all the girls going through to the next round!! it's all getting very exciting!

Hugs, Marlene x

Who is going through to DT round 2?

We had an overwhelming number of applications for our DT place and the standard has been very, very high.

It has been so hard to decide on those who will be going through to the next round.

However, we have managed to pick 18 ladies for round 2 from almost 70 applications.

These are the are the successful enties

Huge thank you to everybody who entered. I have really enjoyed looking through all the applications and have found lots of amazing talent out there and hope that some of you will reapply for any future DT spots.

Stage 2 will be a little more relaxed and I am hoping to get to know a lot more about your styles so will just be asking to see the 3 pieces of work you are proudest of/feel best represent you. These certainly do not need to be created especially for us and can be anything you like.

I will email the ladies who are through to stage 2 in due course but thought I would give some advance warning so you can start organising yourselves!

Congratulations!


Bryony

My HH Challenge #1 (and Ismaki challenge) entry

I am being brave again and showing you my card-making 'skills'. I just couldn't resist playing with the new High Hopes stamps and had started making a Christmas card for the Ismaki challenge this morning but have altered it slightly to fit the High Hopes Challenge.



The wand and crown are made with star brads.




Stamps - HH Fairy Princess and Fairy Special Day

Papers - Bazzill Bling, Forever Friends and DCWV Rose Tinted Christmas

Tag - Dovecraft Rose tinted Christmas

Brads - MM Value Star Brads

Shimmer - Icicle Stickles (0n wings) and Decoart Snow writer (for fur trims)

Ribbons - both from Raspberry Ribbons

Medium - Prismas, stumps and sansodor





Taking the twins out for a spin round the block - back soon with news of who will be going through to the next round

Bryony

High Hopes New Release - Fishing Santa

The stickles have only just dried and I thought you would like to see my first card with two of the stamps from the High Hopes new release today - "Fishing Santa and Christmas Fishes" sentiment. The jolly Santa was just perfect for my FIL's Christmas card as he is fishing mad! The fab papers are from one of my favourite brands Basic Grey and are from the range Figgy Pudding. The base of my card has been made using bazzill. You know my favourite colouring medium is Prismacolor pencils and we now stock sansodor which is perfect for blending harsh lines.

Have a great Sunday!
Hugs,

Gorgeous new release High Hopes in stock

Hooray - it is release day at last so I can show you the gorgeous new High Hopes stamps which we have in stock and ready for immediate dispatch
























We have the full range on the website here so make sure you don't miss out on your favourites as I think these will be very popular (especially with the new High Hopes blog)


Right, best dash as I have to go buy some stamps ready for the first High Hopes Challenge today. I am obsessiveky checking the HH blog to find out what the challenge will be. Honestly, I don't know what is taking them so long - it is 3.30am there surely they should be up and getting the challenge on by now!!!!!



Bryony


PS - Don't forget to come back on the blog later on, when we will be unveiling the talented ladies who have made it through to round 2 of the DT Call

Nikki and Marlene's girly day out & HOT NEWS!

Thought i'd pop on and post a picture which was taken today of Marlene and I at Alexandra Palace "Big Stamp and Scrapbooking show". It was so great to meet up and we had a fab day and bought tons! "Now for some HOT news... you remember those 50 new gorgeous stamps Bryony's mentioned yesterday? You do...? Well check out my blog here for more clues!

New collection of 50 stamps

I am so excited all over again.

We have received a lovely big shipment of some gorgeous new stamps this morning. There are 50 different stamps in the collection and they are all totally fab. There are some lovely festive stamps as well as some fabulous characters.

And the downside? They aren't being released until Sunday so i can't show you them and you will just have to take my word for how lovely they are! I have them all ready and raring to press the active switch on the website listings as soon as they are officially released so make sure you don't miss out on Sunday.

Any super-sleuths out there might be able to work out who these exciting new releases are by but for now i am keeping them all to myself!


It looks like it is going to be a very busy and exciting weekend, with the new releases and DT call so make sure you pop back for regular updates.

Bryony

Little Devil

Yay!! they are here and Oh Boy... are they cute???!!!
Love the latest range of CC-designs stamps and couldn't wait to use this little devil!

He is coloured with promarker pens and the 'wand' (what is the correct name for this?) has been coloured seperate and touched with stickles.. then 3D'd onto the image as are both layers of the background.

The cobweb and spiders have been hand~drawn.

Hugs,
Marlene x

Gorgeous CC Designs Stamps

I am so over-excited as our CC Designs Stamps have just arrived and they are even more gorgeous in the flesh.

I have only just unpacked the box but thought I would pop on and show you how gorgeous they are - the sets come in an adorable metal tin too

I will get pricing them now and will try to get them on the website this afternoon so you can watch out for them appearing here (although there is a chance I might just keep them all for myself as they are so adorable)

If you want some yummy paper, chipboard or rubons to go with them why not have a browse though our new products section and have a look at the yummy CherryArte goodies we uploaded yesterday.

Also don't forget we are still taking applications for our DT - more details here

Bryony

High Hopes Trish Tea Angel

I can't believe it's Friday already.. where has the week gone? I have quite a few birthdays coming up so here is a card I made last night using one of my new stamps High Hopes "Trish Tea Angel". You know how much I love colouring with my Prismacolor pencils.... well if you need to blend the harsh lines the perfect product for this job is Sansodor which you can now find over in the store.

Have a great weekend!
Hugs,

Basic Grey and Sarah Kay

Another card with the gorgeous BG Periphery papers, they are so versatile and can be used with cute or distressed looking cards.
The new Tim Holtz tickets are one of my favorite embellishments at the moment, and will do nicely for a quick sentiment.

Sarah has been coloured with Tim Holtz distress inks in 'Weathered Wood', 'faded Jeans', 'Tattered Rose', 'Old Paper' and 'Walnut Stain'.
Update on the Sarah Kay stamps, the last collection have been re-ordered and should be available again soon.. also keep your eye on the shop for the new winter/Christmas Sarah range *Ü*

Hugs,
Marlene x

Oops Ellie

Another Cutie from the High Hopes range, Ellie has got a 'boo-boo' and I think she's just perfect for a get well card :)

Ellie has been coloured with ProMarkers and the design papers are by BasicGrey 'Periphery'

Hugs,

Portholes

(this picture is kinda small so you may want to click for a larger view)

I had great fun making this Portholes card with these cute High Hopes sea characters and am really pleased with how it turned out. I used twinkling H2o's to give my colouring a bit of added glimmer. These can be purchased here in the Store. Hope you like it!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.



Card:
Stamps: High Hopes "Diver Dan", "Findley", "Horatio" Sea Horse and "Dive Right in" sentiment.
Ink: Memories, Twinkling H2o's, Sakura Stardust
Paper: SU Designer paper "Fall Flowers, Su Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip Card stock, Wood effect panel from an old cardboard toy box.
Embellishments: Buttons, Fibres, Charms
Equipment: Wizard, Nestabilities

Close-ups

High Hopes Mermaid

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I've been getting stuck into lots of shimmery and glittery goodies available from the shop :)

The card base has been cut from bazzill bling (11" x 5.5") and I've used two of the large range of High Hopes stamps available, the Mermaid and Horatio seahorse

The mermaid has been coloured with Ranger Distress inks first and then highlighted with H2O shimmer paints, you can see from the detailed close up below how shimmery they are!

I've added lots of bling dots created with lime green stickles.. really giving such a 3 dimensional feel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It will be so exciting to have someone new join Nikki and Me on the DT Team and hope you will try out for Bryony's DT Call

Really can't wait to see all the creations with the sketch provided by Nikki for the first round..

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Hugs,

DT call

We are finally ready to fill our vacant 3rd spot on the Silly Monkey Crafts design team and are beginning our DT call today.

We are looking for anybody who can create inspiring and beautiful work, no prior design team experience is necessary.

The successful candidates will receive a kit each month to base their work on and the remaining stash and their work will remain theirs to keep. DT members will also receive 15% discount on our website.

Every month you will be expected to produce cards, layouts and/or special projects of your own choosing. The images will be placed on our website gallery but you will also need to post these to our blog, along with details on how you created your work.

We are looking for fun and varied team so we want applicants from across the crafting spectrum so we are not specifying card-makers or scrapbookers only - this is your chance to showcase your creativity. We welcome applications from worldwide crafters

DT members will also be expected to take an active role on our blog.

This DT call will operate in rounds and round 1 will be made up of a sketch challenge plus some 'about me' supporting info.

THE SKETCH

Nikki has kindly designed us a sketch for you to follow and base your entry on. We are all looking forward to seeing what you do with the sketch and how you interpret it.

'ABOUT ME'

Please can you also send us some information about you so we can get to know our applicants a little better

• Your name, interests and general infomation about you.
• Your email address
• A short craft bio - how did you get into crafts? which crafts do you enjoy the most?
• Crafting achievements - Has your work been published? Are you on any Design Teams? Have you won anything? (Please note that you will not be judged on this, it will simply allow us to get a better picture of you, so please do not be put off if you haven't yet been published or picked for a DT)
• Online - If you have a blog please include the link and if you use online forums we would appreciate a link to any gallery work.
• Any other info you think might be useful
  

HOW TO APPLY

Please send your 'about me' info along with an image of your entry using the sketch to DT@sillymonkeycrafts.com.

Entries must be received by 5pm GMT on Friday 26th September 2008. We will not be able to consider any entries received after that time.

We will announce which applicants have made it though to round 2 of the DT call via the blog on Sunday 28th September.

Please note that we will be showing the entries for successful candidates so if you are not happy for your work to be shown if you are successful then please let us know.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing your creations

Bryony