So much going on! ArtsyCrafts Retreat and YouTube Update

Hello all, what with one thing and another (CreativeWorld international craft trade fair in Frankfurt, launching new stamps and stencils, filming for online courses, plus another big secret I can't even tell you about yet!), I've been neglecting the blog again. 

Here's just a quick update on the treats available over on the Words and Pictures YouTube channel, in case you've missed them... some of them including some playtime with the newest stamps and stencils released last month. 

Click on any of the links to go and enjoy the fun!

We had a very rusty January - watch some of the episodes in the full Rusty Patina Playtime playlist, and you'll see what I mean.  Here are a couple of highlights.

Rusty Mixed Media Moth

Using tags and ephemera elements created during the season to give the fabulous Tim Holtz moth a place to take off from.

Rusty Playtime 2

Using Grit Paste and various colour mediums to create rusty and coppery patinas on diecuts by Seth Apter and Tim Holtz for Sizzix.

Watercolour Berries

Creating a watercolour effect with Distress Ink stamping of my new PaperArtsy berries from EAB54 Twisted Branches and EAB56 Berry Branches - an addictive technique, this one!

Bubbly Women

These curly-headed women are a new element in the Words and Pictures stamp world, but I've been doodling them for years in the margins of my playscripts. Time to take centre stage...

Winter Sunrise Triptych

There's even been time for a little bit of wintery watercolouring (some of it including my PaperArtsy stamps)...

And there are so so so many more since I last caught up here!  Hop over to the channel and explore - and I hope you'll enjoy all the inspiration.

Oh, and by the way - there are just a few places left on my PaperArtsy ArtsyCrafts retreat this June, in the glorious French countryside. If you're curious, these links will help with anything you need to know.

Listen to Leandra and me discussing the retreat here...

For information packs click here...

For booking details click here... 

For a brief little introduction to the whole thing, click here...

Thanks so much, as ever, for your company on this creative journey - it wouldn't be the same without you.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.
Ursula le Guin

Change is the end result of all true learning.
Leo Bascaglia

Brand new PaperArtsy stamps and stencils... with something new in the mix!

Hello all!  Yes, it's that time again... I'm delighted to be sharing my newest PaperArtsy designs - three new stamp sets and three stencils.  And there's something new in the mix.

For these new designs we have berries, branches... and bodies! Head over to the PaperArtsy blog to see more (it'll be live at 8pm European on Monday).

I often combine my botanicals with vintage photos or the Tim Holtz Paper Dolls, so I've dug back down into my past for these figures.  I used to doodle in the margins of playscripts when I was working in the theatre, and these curly-headed women always featured.  Come and meet them over on the PaperArtsy blog, and see how they interact with my botanicals. There are stencils and masks to match, which creates so many artistic possibilities!

Catch up with the live launch video here in the PaperArtsy People FB group, to hear all about the inspiration behind the designs and the samples.

I hope you'll join me either live or on catch-up to hear more about the inspiration behind the new designs and see lots of samples.

Have a great week, all!

I've always been intrigued by cutout silhouettes. They are so intriguing, so poetic - the shadow of a soul. They tell everything about a character and they are open to be filled with one's own imagination.
Ann Demeulemeester (fashion designer)

You cannot do silhouettes in fantasy. Ah, no, you must be faithful. It is, the art, a, what you call, paradox. It is always that you must be simple, and then, if you are simple, you will stimulate the imagination of the observer.
Ugo Mochi (silhouette artist)

PaperArtsy ArtsyCrafts Retreat - June 2026

I'm so excited to be teaching for a week at PaperArtsy HQ in the French countryside near Bergerac, June 10th - 17th.  This ArtsyCrafts Retreat is sure to be an extraordinary experience, and I can hardly wait!

The event includes four days of art-making and creative exploration with me (all class materials provided) and so much more. 

Our crafting journey will be inspired by the nature and landscape around us, by the handmade papers from the local paper mill, by vintage finds at the brocante.

It will include sketching, painting, stamping, printing, distressing and more, building into an altered journal by the end of the week.

And there's so much more to the week... We’ll share the delights of the Dordogne region; a visit to a nearby château, the chance to explore a local brocante for vintage finds, and local markets and restaurants.

PaperArtsy offer relaxed evening apéro by the PAHQ pool each evening, and wonderful meals prepared on site by our talented chef, featuring regional produce and wine (all this is applies to both packages). This will be a truly memorable creative and travel experience.

The ArtsyCrafts information pack (that sounds quite dull - it's actually a beautiful brochure!) and the booking application form are now available to read and download.  Click on the link below and you'll find the files so that you can digest all the information in your own time.

ArtsyCrafts Retreat Information Pack and Application Forms

This Saturday 17th January, Leandra and I will be live on my Words and Pictures YouTube channel and in the PaperArtsy People FB group to chat about the event and answer any questions, before booking opens on Saturday evening.  Join us at 5pm Europe, 4pm UK, 11am Eastern, 8am Pacific to hear all about it.

If the video highlights above aren't working, they're also available on my Instagram as a Reel.

Of all the adventures coming up this year, I think this might be the one I'm looking forward to the most!!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.
Friedrich Nietzsche

I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.
Albert Einstein

Season's Greetings!

Dropping in to wish you all the very best... merry Christmas, happy Hannukah, and a peaceful, gentle, joyous festive season, however you celebrate it.

If you're looking for some seasonal playtime, there have been lots of lovely festive episodes over on my YouTube channel in recent weeks (not to mention another coming up this Saturday 27th featuring the layered PaperArtsy garland from the retrospective post).  I thought I'd drop a few links here, so that they're all in one place to be easily found... ending with today's Christmas Eve tag, with a very special guest star!

Put your feet up, wrap your fingers round a hot toddy or hot chocolate, and enjoy some Christmas creativity.  Just click on the episode titles to join in the fun...

Festive Berry Postcards 

Ten Minute Tags - Festive Greenery

Winter Candle Lanterns - two different methods

Ten Minute Tags - Very Merry Berry

Botanical Kraft Gift Tags

Winter Decorative Tapes

Ten Minute Tags - Christmas Eve Tag

If that doesn't keep you in the festive spirit, I don't know what will!  I hope there's some inspiration to be found here, however you celebrate and even if you don't.  Thank you all for your company on this creative journey - it simply wouldn't be the same without you.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night...

Snow had fallen, snow on snow...
From In the Bleak Midwinter (1872) by Christina Rossetti

the wise trees

stand sleeping in the cold

From Winter Trees (1921) by William Carlos Williams

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

From A Visit from St. Nicholas (1823) by Clement Clarke Moore

My PaperArtsy Year

Hello all, and welcome.  December seems to be rushing away from me, so I'm just dropping in very quickly to let you know that I'm over on the PaperArtsy blog with a post celebrating and reflecting on the stamps and stencils I've created with them over the course of 2025.

As well as looking back at each of the three releases (three stamp sets and three stencils each time), I've created a special end-of-year project using a combination of the 2025 designs.

Head over to PaperArtsy to see how I managed to combine a spring release, a summer release and an autumn release to create this festive winter wreath!

I hope you'll enjoy this retrospective of my creative year with PaperArtsy.  I'm so proud of the work we've done together, and thrilled that so many of you have bought the stamps and stencils and have been making beautiful things with them.  Thank you for your incredible support along the way.

(I know it's a busy time of year, so do feel free to bookmark the post and enjoy it with your feet up once the main festivities are out of the way!)  Wishing you all the very best of the season, and happy crafting all!

What you want to ignite in others must first burn inside yourself.

Charlotte Brontë

To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.

Robert Louis Stevenson

Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.

Vincent van Gogh

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.

Dorothy Parker

Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.

Pablo Picasso

40% off Wanderlust 2026 (and other Everything Art courses)

Hello all, I just had to stop by to let you know about the amazing 40% off sale at Everything Art for the next fortnight.  From now until 8th December, there is 40% off all classes and bundles at Everything Art including - and especially! - Wanderlust 2026.  Use the code HAPPY40 at checkout.

That's obviously the one I'm excited about, since I'm one of the 35 teachers on the one-year mixed media adventure that is Wanderlust.  It all kicks off in January, so this is a great chance to grab a year of creative inspiration at a fabulous reduction.

Use my affiliate link to give my earnings a little boost, without costing yourself anything extra...

Sign up for Wanderlust 2026

And of course, check out all the other amazing courses on offer... you'll find lots of tempting possibilities!

I'm so looking forward to sharing my class with the Wanderlust adventurers who have already signed up.  I hope I might see you in the classroom too.

Don't forget... signing up via my affiliate link here makes a big difference to me!  For now, have a great week, and I'll be back soon.

(Sale prices last only until 1pm UK on the 8th December.)

Dare yourself to live the life you’ve always wanted.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

Helen Keller

Add Some Texture - Simon Says Stamp Guest Designer

This may be my favourite theme of all the October posts for which I've been in the Designer Spotlight at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this month... let's Add Some Texture.  And with Halloween fast approaching, my texture definitely has a spooky quality to it!

As always, it's been a delight to be part of the inspiration team at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this month, even as a temporary member!  

I'm so grateful to the team for inviting me, and it's been a joy playing alongside the fabulous creatives and crafters on the regular Design Team, especially this week as we Add Some Texture!

As ever, Simon Says Stamp are sponsoring the challenge, with a lucky prize draw to win a voucher for a shopping spree in their fabulous online store.

I love adding texture to journal pages, especially when I'm working in one of my altered hardback books. 

There aren't really any making-of photos in this post - though of course I'll talk you through what I did with some close-ups... but you'll be able to watch the whole process over on my YouTube channel from Wednesday.  (I'll come back and add a link here when it's live.)

So make a note in your diary, and you'll be able to see the layers of texture building on this page spread in all the detail you could possibly want!

For now, let me share some of the steps and the products I used to achieve them.

It all started with a layer of gesso to soften the book text and prepare the pages for the wet media to come.  I glued in some scraps of my PaperArtsy Printed Tissue PT08, leaving plenty of wrinkles, plus bits hanging over the edges of the page... lots of texture already.

Next, I used the Tim Holtz Shatter stencil to ink some cobwebs into the corners using Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  The little spider comes from the Mini Halloween 3 stamp set - though he had migrated onto my Apothecary set!  And the little bits of script detail are the text stamp from Apothecary, one of my all-time favourite script stamps.

I glued down some frayed linen ribbon and strips of Idea-ology Mummy Cloth next to Shakespeare (!), and used a spatula to add Ranger Distress Opaque Crackle Paste in various places.

Obviously, you need to leave that to crackle and do its thing.  Once it was dry, I added Pumice Stone DI and Distress Crayon over it to highlight the cracks.

Time for some collaging...  I had some snippets left over from the Add Some Text project in week two... typewriter letters made with the large Typewriter Embossing Folder and Black Kraft Stock.  I thought they would be great elements within the collaging, and also add some more dimension and texture.

Otherwise, I grabbed bits and bobs from various packets of Idea-ology Halloween ephemera that I've collected over the years - both paper and metal ephemera.  

I can't say for certain what came from which edition, but you can find this year's collection here (and of course you can also buy the packs individually).

And there's one of the Halloween Paper Dolls too, of course.  (Again, she's from a while back.)

She's the fortune teller who might take a hand in how your fate unfolds by using one of her poisonous potions on you.  You'll hear more about all that in the video when it comes out on Wednesday.

Once again, there are a few of the Curator Snippets labels in the mix... I don't know where I would be without them!

I think that's about your lot!  It's certainly my lot for this month in the Designer Spotlight for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  Head over there to see what the Design Team have got in store for you - it's bound to be inspiring.

They'll pick out a few favourite projects at the end of the week, and one randomly-drawn winner will go shopping at Simon Says Stamp with a prize voucher.  All you need to do is Add Some Texture!

I hope you've enjoyed this spooky little detour into the pages of my altered book journal.  And don't forget to pop back on Wednesday to get the direct link for the process video.  Of course, if you already follow my Words and Pictures YouTube channel, then you'll spot it when it pops up anyway!!

Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll have a wonderful week adding texture to whatever you are making.  Happy crafting, all!

There are poisons that blind you, and poisons that open your eyes.
August Strindberg

BELLADONNA, n. In Italian a beautiful lady; in English a deadly poison. A striking example of the essential identity of the two tongues.
Ambrose Bierce, from The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

Brand New PaperArtsy Stamps and Stencils

I'm ba-aaack! Two posts in one day... it's just like the good old days!  I'm thrilled to be here for the second time today, because the reason for it is so exciting... I have some new PaperArtsy stamps and stencils to share with you.

These are all about the changing seasons - designs which can work at any time of year.  As always, I've just got a couple of sneak peeks here to whet your appetite.  You can hear all about the ideas behind these new designs, and see lots of sample inspiration over on the PaperArtsy blog. 

As well as checking out the blogpost, I hope you'll join me for the live launch for an in-person introduction to the new products - three stamp sets and three stencils.

I can't wait to show you these new designs and give you a closer look at what I've been getting up to with them so far.  I hope you'll have as much fun with them as I am!

Thanks so much for stopping by today (maybe twice!), and happy crafting, all.

To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.
George Santayana

When the seasons shift, even the subtle beginning, the scent of a promised change, I feel something stir inside me. Hopefulness? Gratitude? Openness? Whatever it is, it's welcome.
Kristin Armstrong