Just a little bit of gossip into the girls’ lives and how their crafting journeys brought them to here.

Hi … I am Brenda.  I have designed and created things all my life even as a child in primary school.

I can remember designing patterns and images for my cross stitching and my Mum taught me to knit and how to use a sewing machine.

As I got older I loved observational drawing and studied oil painting at college.  As a teacher I loved taking my children out into the environment to draw and look for examples of art, we always made books to keep our topic work in. This kept me going through my teaching years as there wasn’t much time to explore my creative side but since working part-time I have been able to have the luxury of working in my craft room much more.

I have been card making, I still love making books, and now I am experimenting with mixed media and much more stamping. Hence I am so pleased to be part of this ‘Fashionable Stamping’ challenge blog with Shirley and the girls.

Hi, I’m Claire and I’m really looking forward to being part of this exciting new team.

I’m the wrong side of 40 and live in the UK with my husband, 21 year old son, 2 dogs and a very bossy parrot.

I work full time for a mental health charity and although I love my job it would be bliss to have more time for crafting.

I’m totally addicted to all things inky. I love to try new techniques and mess around with paint and ink. I especially enjoy making my own … backgrounds, flowers, embellies etc. I also dabble a little in jewellery making, and really enjoy combining stamping techniques with bead work.  I don’t have a particular style as I love everything from grungy to cute. think my favourite papercrafting technique is brayering although it changes from day to day.

My name is Dot and I love stamping and inking….with a passion!  It’s the most satisfying feeling when you have created something and it is the best that you can do (until next time that is).

Let me introduce myself ~ I live in Australia in a small city down the bottom, in Victoria, called Portland. I am a mother to 2 boys (14 and 16), an integration aide with primary teacher training, a keen rower around our beautiful harbour, an adventurer in the making, and a lover of red wine.

I have rekindled a love for stamping and I want to see how far I can go…to fly!

Hello my name is Felicity but I am Fliss to all my friends.  I’m married to Andrew, an architect, and have two daughters aged 20 and 22.

I think I can probably say I’m stamping mad as I bought a stamp and ink pad 15 years ago and the rest as they say is history.

I really love making my own background papers and am always trying to think up new ways to decorate the.  I think the best of them come about by accident so my middle name must be Serendipity!

I teach classes in stamping too and really love doing this as it’s so lovely to see how happy my students are when they finish a card having made all the elements themselves.

I’m really excited to be here and look forward to seeing all the lovely challenge entries.

Meet our Pop in Resident Guest Designer

Hello, my name is Joanna. I am Polish but I now live in the UK.  I am a property manager by day and a paper crafter by night.

I live with my two most affectionate boys, my lovely hubby and my cute cat.  Both supporting my creative efforts in their own way .

I first started my shy attempts at paper crafting after my wedding.  It will probably sound familiar for most of the lovely brides out there, but I had this idea of creating a pretty handmade scrapbook of a selection of our wedding and honeymoon photos.  And I have simply fallen in love with scrapbooking, stamping and paper crafting ever since!  The selection of the wedding photos has dangerously grown into “all photos” category which means that it will be a long time before I manage to complete this project lol   And somehow on the way, with Christmas, birthdays, weddings etc and so many people close to my heart, my passion for paper crafting has recently been focused on card making.

When I create, I always try to tell a story through my project, hoping to illustrate the emotions behind this little work of art .  I love experimenting with different things, new techniques and styles, trying to get to know myself better through this form of art…

 I am absolutely thrilled to join this lovely and super talented Team as a Resident Guest Designer (I just love this fancy title lol!) and I hope my work will be an inspiration, too. I would also be delighted to welcome you to my little crafty world at http://underacreativespell.blogspot.com/.

 Happy crafting!

Joanna x

Hi everyone my name is Shirley and I have been crafting it seems forever.

Married to an absolute gem called Andrew who puts up with my quirky habit and never complains … until he sees the credit card bill.

Sue here – I’ve been crafting seriously for about 10 years now. Stamping is what I’m really passionate about and mix that with inks and paints and I’m in heaven. I work full time so squeeze my crafting into a couple of hours at night and whatever time I can find at the week ends….without upsetting my other half !  My craft room is my haven and it’s the one place where I go to unwind and relax…….and lose all track of time ! Fortunately my partner is extremely understanding and supportive……..which is a good job!

Hi, my name is Avril and I am so pleased to be a member of this very talented Design Team.
I live in the N.E. of England, I’m married with 2 grown-up children.
I have always been involved in some kind of crafting from an early age, starting with sewing and knitting clothes for my dolls to making them for myself, and in the past have tried all kinds of needlework.  That was until a couple of years ago when a friend asked me to go with her to a card class to learn iris folding, and from then I was hooked!  Cardmaking has now become my ‘adiction’ – my husband thinks I need therapy!

I am Ellie Knol, married for 24 years now and mother to 4 teenagers, 3 sons and a daughter.  I live in the Netherlands now, but I was born in Monté Alégre, Brasil and lived there until my 9th birthday when we moved to South Africa.  At 23 we (my fiancée and me) moved to Holland where we firstly moved in with my mother-in-law and then married in 1987.  My family all still live in South Africa, I am a Christian.  I was asked to be on another design team at the same time as Fashionable Stamping and it’s all very exciting to me … WOW.  BUT – more important to you – I love to play with colour and paper, the messier the better.

Hi, my name is Lynne Moncrieff, I am 43 years old and live in Perth, Scotland. I’ve always had an interest in art from school days but it slipped from my life for many years.  On the lookout for a hobby I dabbled in a few which led to cross-stitching.  Some years later I discovered cardmaking but it didn’t really grab me until I discovered stamps.  When a friend sent me copies of Somerset Studio and The Stampers’ Sampler I was in awe of what people were creating.  As I’d never taken a class or workshop I was in a bit of a bubble and this opened my eyes to new possibilities.  I eventually joined an on-line stamping group where I participated in various swaps.

Silvia here – Hi or Moin ( as I always say here in my country).  I’m from Germany – also known under my knickname of Barnie from Barnie’s Baustelle.  Wife and a mum to two wonderful students, both no longer at home.  Totally addicted to rubber stamping for more than 15 years.  I love my distress inks and making tags is my favourite, but will also try other forms of art.  I am happy and proud to be part of this wonderful team.  Happy Stamping.

Hi, I am Terry and so excited to be part of this fun and fashionable design team.  My love of stamping, started in the Summer of 2007, when some friends invited me to a workshop.  To me it was the most ridiculous thing that I could do on a Sunday afternoon.  Well the rest is history and I believe this hobby is now a way of life.  Since I started blogging a little over a year ago, an incredible world has surfaced.  I have learned so much and have met some of the most talented and amazing people!

On the personal side I am married to a wonderful man, who never complains and we live in Southern California.  The kids are grown and we share the house with Molly, our Dalmatian and Fred the monster bird!

Greetings!  I am Yvonne and I cannot imagine a day without cardmaking!  I absolutely love stamping and all things paper craft-oriented.  I really enjoy sharing my cards with others as a means of encouragement.  My joy is even greater when those who receive my creations tell me that they have saved all of my cards and have even framed some of them.  I am from the east coast of the United States, have three beautiful grown children, three grandchildren, and an absolutely wonderful, loving, and supportive husband.  I love both ultra modern and vintage-style cards the most and really enjoy growing my skills through card challenges.  I have met so many wonderful artists and friends in the word of card making.  This is my first opportunity to be a part of a design team, and I am just thrilled.  It is an absolute dream come true!

Hi,  I’m Yvonne, known to many folk in blogland as Meggymay.
I have been happily retired for a few years so have had more time to follow my life long passion for crafting. On the personal front my understanding and supportive husband, my rock and soulmate is always willing to indulge my craft addiction, his is the first opinion I seek, before he takes the photos for me.  I have two sons, long flown the family nest.  In our leisure time we love to go off in the caravan, naturally the craft stash takes the most space.
I am thrilled to be joining such a tallented group of artistic folk and be part of this exciting new Stamping Challenge blog.

About Me

I’ve always loved ‘Arty things’ for as long as I can remember. I’ve dabbled in most crafty things. Candlemaking, jewellery, silversmithing, but I usually end up going back to my two favourite past times, painting and card making/altered art.

Hi, I’m Esther and have been crafting for ever, from junk modelling as a child through knitting and cross stitch long abandoned to candle and paper making before finally settling on stamping and all things inky ! I started scrapbooking about fifteen years ago and stamping quickly followed ! I live with my partner of ten years who patiently puts up with my crafty mess, delayed dinners and embossing powder everywhere – he likes that it makes birthday prezzies easy! I’m a social worker in my local authority Fostering Service which can be heavy going so crafting is both my addiction and my therapy.  I’m very excited to be joining the very talented team at FSC and look forward to sharing !