Welcoming Kellie to the DT!

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for leaving me such kind comments on my last post. I'm so happy to hear your enthusiasm for Alie's art. I'm sure it made her smile too :)

New DT Member

Today I'm announcing one more addition to the DT. We're at 8 now so I'll have to slow down for a bit and focus on Guest Designers. A BIG warm welcome to Kellie Murton!!!

You might recognize Kellie from the awesome video tutorials I have been posting lately. She's refreshingly candid on film, down to earth and I love her art. Kellie will be the first DT member to be bringing you inspiration from the U.S. It's so exciting to be building a team of international artists. Thank you internet! We now have:

Canada (Shirley)

Germany (Anja)

Netherlands (Alie, Karin and Miranda)

UK (Eileen and Wendy)

... and now the US (Kellie)

To celebrate, here's Kellie's latest project!

Here's the link to her YouTube video! http://youtu.be/kXJtnVfiXDo

A little gallery of Kellie's projects so far...

All of her videos for these projects can be found on my Pinterest page. She also has TONS of other videos on her YouTube channel Kellie Murton

Meet Kellie

For those of you who haven't seen her Guest Spotlights, here is a bit about Kellie in her own words...

"When I am not working or spending quality time with my 3 boys, ages 23, 11 and 9, you will likely find me in my studio working on my next crafting project, jewelry design or mixed media art journal page. I am the owner of InsideOut Field Services, a professional lender services business. I have over 25 years in the lender services and collections business and starting my own successful servicing business over 9 years ago was a dream come true. It's not all rainbows and butterflies of course but that is where my artistic passion comes in to play to level things out. I also own a small online store called Intoxication by Kellie that I am excited about taking to the next level in the coming months. My amazing husband, who is my soul mate and best friend, keeps me grounded and after all these years of working together and raising our family together, we still LIKE each other. Loving someone is easy. LIKING someone is another story entirely. All my boys are champions and they make me whole.

I've been sharing tutorials and fun creations on YouTube for about 4 years now. I also organized a Google+ community called The ICWIC Crew where we share mixed media projects to inspire each other. The crafting community that I have been fortunate enough to be part of never ceases to amaze me with their kindness and support. I've made some amazing friendships on YouTube that I am very grateful for. I was absolutely honored to be invited to be a Design Team Member for Ryn Tanaka with Designs by Ryn.com. I have been admiring her stamps for quite some time and I'm proud to demonstrate how I use her high quality products for you."

Thanks for Stopping By

I really appreciate you visiting my blog and taking interest in what's new around here. If you have a moment to leave Kellie a welcome here or on her YouTube channel I'm sure it would make her day :) Thanks again. I'm wishing you lots of inky fun!

Until next time,

Ryn

 

 

Welcoming Alie to the Design Team :D

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for leaving me such kind comments on my last post. I really appreciate it :)

A Warm Welcome

I've got a special announcement to share with you today! The Design Team now has a 7th member! A BIG warm welcome to Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries from the Netherlands!!!

I'm sure many of you already know Alie from blogland. I've also featured her art a couple of times in this space. She's a wonderfully kind and caring person and a very talented artist. I'm so happy that she said yes to designing with my stamps and stencils and am looking forward to sharing her free-flowing feeling-filled art with you :)

Alie's Art

To get things started here is a little celebratory gallery of her creations.

Just look at those leaf/drop fishes! Believe it or not, they are actually one of the leaves from Abstract Leaf Set and a drop from Raindrop Set. She's keeps surprising me with new uses for my stamps. Love it! Notice Maidenhair Fern in the background too. Nice subtle effect.

This one reminds me of an underwater forest. So atmospheric! There are a LOT of stamps and stencils in there and yet she's managed to make it all go together beautifully.

Lastly, a clean and simple card using Patio Stone and Compound Leaf. Like how she split the colour on the leaf!

A Bit About Alie

In case you missed her previous spotlights here is a bit about Alie in her own words.

"Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries, almost 61 years, woman, happily married since 41 years, mother, grandmother of 3, and staff of 2 cats...and stampaddict! My stamping life started in 2009, very carefull, with little material and just a few stamps. But since then stamping became a real passion! I'm not a real technique stamper, I "just go with the flow"...Sometimes an idea comes into my head...and it always becomes different than I had thought. But most of the times I sit down, look around and get inspired by a colour or a stamp. And just start a creation, wondering when it's finished that it looks how it looks...I mostly love to make cards or other creations, without pressure, but with loads of feelings.

And of course I like to visit blogs and Pinterest and enjoy the work of so many awesome stamping ladies (sorry guys...I rarely see you :-)). This year I won the Dutch poster contest from the Art Specially Event...to my surprise. That was a touching moment...that the judges had chosen my stamped card as the best of all the entries. But in the last years I also was asked 3 times to be guestdesigner at De Stempelwinkel and at Our Creative Corner. At this moment I'm a member of the Stampinback.nl designteam.

I am really honoured that Ryn asked me to be a member of her Design Team and have had lots of fun, creating with her gorgeous stamps, "Designs by Ryn". All the stamps are so detailed and unique... And I hope, you can enjoy my makes! Ryn, many thanks for this great opportunity...it's my pleasure to play with your lovely stamps! And of course I will use them over and over again!!

Kindest regards,

Alie :-)"

Visiting Alie

It would be wonderful if you have a moment to stop by Alie's blog and congratulate her :) She's written up a post too. Here's a link: http://aliehoogenboezem-devries-atc.blogspot.nl

Thanks so much for helping me to celebrate the 7th member of our little team :)

All my best to you!

Ryn

 

 

September Sales and News!

Hello everyone,

Wow! It's been a crazy month of personal changes and business. Lots to say this month!!! Here goes...

My Life

My father, partner and I have had our hands full cleaning out my ancestral home and getting it ready for sale. No move in my life has been so emotional or so much work. We found old steamer trunks in the basement full of wrapped Christmas presents from the 1940's and boxes of records of our family's wartime history. My families art, love letters and treasured possessions. What to take and what to let go of? A whole family's history left in the hands of it's two remaining members - my father and I.

I am happy to say that after weeks of work we have finished the job. Now I have some time to settle into a new apartment and to focus on my life again. I am looking forward to relaxing into my new space after all of the stress of moving and to feeling the creative energy return. My craft supplies are unpacked and waiting for me to dive in.

Wholesale Release

The exciting news about business is that I am finally offering Wholesale and Unmounted Sheets of my designs.

You have been asking me to do this for some time and I have been working hard to figure out a way to make it possible. I am still mounting and cutting all of the stamps myself - as well as running all other aspects of business - and I came across a problem. I just couldn't balance the volume of cutting and still have time for designing. Growing pains. Not a bad problem at all. It just meant that I had to clumsily stretch into a new faze of the life of my business.

After some brainstorming I decided to begin offering Unmounted Sheets of my designs both on my website and for Wholesale. My idea being that with less production work I might make some time in my schedule for designing. I know this last year was a very slow one for new designs. I apologize and thank everyone for being patient with me and continuing to support what I am building. Even when I wasn't new or exciting.

I released my new Unmounted Sheets to a list of waiting stores for pre-orders and am ordering from my manufacturers today. They take 3 weeks to process every order that I place so with shipping times included the sheets should be arriving to the stores in mid-October.

I feel vey lucky to have the Unmounted Sheets represented now in the UK (Oyster Stamps), Switzerland (Stempelseite), Austria (Bastelhaus), 2 stores in Germany (one being Stempellaedle), Australia and Japan (Zu's Studio)! What a spread!!! So thankful :)

A couple of the stores asked to not be mentioned yet so I will release a complete list of retailers soon... The Unmounted Sheets will also be available on my site in mid-October for anyone who wants to order that way.

September Sales!

These three products have been reduced by 50% on my site www.designsbyryn.com. For direct links see under each photo.

Compound Leaf - $4.99

Spiral Set - $6.49

Abstract Leaf Set - $6.49

August Customer Creation Draw Winner...

Last but definitely not least is the winner of last month's Customer Creation Draw - Kaybee! Below is a pic of her entry and HERE is a link to her post. Thanks so much for sharing your art :)

I'm so glad to see that many of you seem comfortable with this new method of organizing the draw. It saves me a lot of time and is a great way to see all of your beautiful pieces showcased together. Thanks so much for sharing them! Keep em' coming!

That's it for now. Thanks for taking the time to read my post :)

Hugs!

Ryn

 

 

September Customer Creation Draw

An InLinkz Link-up

Kellie's Second Spot...

Hello everyone,

When I asked Kellie Murton to do a Guest Designer spotlight I sent her a few stamps at once. It's been such a treat to see her experiment with each stamp in her video tutorials. They are informative and wonderfully informal. She does a narrative of her thought process and creative problem solving for each piece. Love her style. If I ever get over my fear of being recorded I would like to strive to be as comfortable and candid as Kellie on film. I first highlighted her last month, today I have two videos and there's still more coming!

In case you missed her first introduction, here's a bit about Kellie...

"When I am not working or spending quality time with my 3 boys, ages 23, 11 and 9, you will likely find me in my studio working on my next crafting project, jewelry design or mixed media art journal page. I am the owner of InsideOut Field Services, a professional lender services business. I have over 25 years in the lender services and collections business and starting my own successful servicing business over 9 years ago was a dream come true. It's not all rainbows and butterflies of course but that is where my artistic passion comes in to play to level things out. I also own a small online store called Intoxication by Kellie that I am excited about taking to the next level in the coming months. My amazing husband, who is my soul mate and best friend, keeps me grounded and after all these years of working together and raising our family together, we still LIKE each other. Loving someone is easy. LIKING someone is another story entirely. All my boys are champions and they make me whole.

I've been sharing tutorials and fun creations on YouTube for about 4 years now. I also organized a Google+ community called The ICWIC Crew where we share mixed media projects to inspire each other. The crafting community that I have been fortunate enough to be part of never ceases to amaze me with their kindness and support. I've made some amazing friendships on YouTube that I am very grateful for. I was absolutely honored to be invited to be a guest designer for Ryn Tanaka with Designs by Ryn.com. I have been admiring her stamps for quite some time and I'm proud to demonstrate how I use her high quality products for you."

Kellie's Projects

This is Kellie's newest creation using Water Droplets from my collection. You can check out the video for this on her YouTube channel (Kellie Murton). HERE is a direct link.

In this next tag Kellie used Selini and leafy Branch. Check out her technique for creating a raindrop effect. It's quite different than my stamps and also very effective! HERE is a link to this video.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by :)

Ryn

 

Ooops!

Hello everyone,
It was brought to my attention recently that I had not announced the winner of last month's Customer Creation Draw. A big thanks to Debbie for gently reminding me. Inlinkz automatically picked a winner and notified them but it slipped my mind that I had to write up a post for the rest of you. I'm slowly learning the ins and outs of using inlinkz. What it does automatically and what I still need to remember to do manually. My apologies!
The winner of July's draw was Sabine Kleinmann! Here's her project below and blog post HERE

She used Raindrops from my stamp collection. Isn't this a neat combination of photo and paint/ink? Very creative!
There's been quite a few entries for this month's draw as well. So happy to see! Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.
Bye for now,
Ryn

Alie's Wonderful Works of Art - Part 3

Hey everyone,

Welcome to the 3rd Spotlight on Alie and this group of stamps. She's made a fantastic bunch of creations using the designs that I sent her way. It's been a joy to see what she came up with from tea bag labels, to alarm clocks, canvases and cards. All inspired and emotion-filled pieces of art. I hope you've enjoyed these galleries as much as I have. I definitely intend to invite her back again to design with a new batch of my stamps or stencils. A BIG thank you to Alie :D

If you would like to check out her blog here is the link: http://aliehoogenboezem-devries-atc.blogspot.nl

Alie is also on Pinterest: Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries

Alie's creations with my stamps can also be viewed in my Pinterest Board: Designs by Ryn - Guest Designers. I've recently created a Designs by Ryn Pinterest account.

Alie's Gallery

A large square card sprayed with Dylusions Ink Sprays and a lot of water. Stamped the text on the left and the girl on the right. Filled the card with raindrop stamps. Coloured them with simple coloured pencils and a golden gelly pen. Made details on the outsides with a permanent marker and a white gelly pen. Glued the card on a lilac card.

Used stamp from Designs by Ryn:

• Raindrop Set - Art.nr. CM-T10

Text stamp: Kaiserkraft

Girl: De Stempelwinkel

Dylusions Ink Spray on craftsheet, moved the cardstock over it, with this result. Splashed some waterdrops over it. Stamped the fish with Jet Black Archival as well as the rising bubbles. With bleach and a pencil, I decoulered the fish. Details in the bubbles with a golden gelly pen and circles with golden paint and a bottle cap.

Used stamps from Designs by Ryn:

• Betta - Art.nr. CM-S3
• Rising Bubbles - Art.nr. CM-T8

Text stamp: Lili of the Valley

Coloured the background with different colours of Bister and water. Stamped the mermaid in the left corner and the sea shell in the right corner with Stazon Midi brown. Coloured with Distress Inks and waterpen. Used a paper with a punched circle to colour the sun. Stamped the birds, the text and one raindrop, almost on the hand of the mermaid.

Used stamps from Designs by Ryn:

• Left Corner Mermaid - Art.nr. CM-M4
• Raindrop Set - Art.nr. CM-T10

Birds: De Stempelwinkel

Shells: Art Journey

Cut a tag out of a piece of cardstock. Coloured the background with orange and green, with the use of a stencil. Sprayed some white Dylusions Ink Spray on top. Stamped the leaves, birds and text. Coloured the leaves with orange and a white gelly pen. Draw black outlines with a permanent marker and glued the tag on yellow cardstock and finally added some ribbon.

Used stamp from Designs by Ryn:

• Leafy Branch - Art.nr. CM-F15

On a piece of paper I used Kuretake Markers and water to let the colours flow. After drying I stamps the rising bubbles and the frontside of Betta the fish. Splashed a bit of waterdrops on the coloured part. On a beige card I also stamped the fish. Glued the coloured part on the beige card. Coloured the fish with a waterpen and Distress Ink. Stamped the text on the beige card and also the leaves in the corner. Coloured the leaves with the Kuretake Markers and sprayed water on it. Details with a white gelly pen.

Used stamps from Designs by Ryn:

• Betta - CM-S3
• Rising Bubbles - CM-T8

A very small canvas, sprayed with Dylusions Ink Sprays. A Dutch text stamp in the middle and leaves and sea bubbles. Coloured the stamps with colour pencils, white and golden gelly pen.

Used stamps from Designs by Ryn:

• Sea Bubbles Set - Art.nr. CM-S15
• Leafy Branch - Art.nr. CM-F15

Dutch text: Different Colors

An old alarm clock. Dismanteled the clock. Used the original front...it was glossy, so I used Alcohol Inks and Blending Solution. Stamped the rising bubbles on it. On other paper I stamped the fish and coloured it with Kuretake Markers and water, cut it out and glued it on the background. Reassambled the alarm clock and this is the result.

Used stamps of Designs by Ryn:

• Rising Bubbles - Art.nr. CM-T8
• Betta fish - Art.nr. CM-S3

A Bit About the Artist

Just in case you missed Part 1 of Alie's Spotlight, here's a little bit about her...

"Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries, almost 61 years, woman, happily married since 41 years, mother, grandmother of 3, and staff of 2 cats...and stampaddict! My stamping life started in 2009, very carefull, with little material and just a few stamps. But since then stamping became a real passion! I'm not a real technique stamper, I "just go with the flow"...Sometimes an idea comes into my head...and it always becomes different than I had thought. But most of the times I sit down, look around and get inspired by a colour or a stamp. And just start a creation, wondering when it's finished that it looks how it looks...I mostly love to make cards or other creations, without pressure, but with loads of feelings.

And of course I like to visit blogs and Pinterest and enjoy the work of so many awesome stamping ladies (sorry guys...I rarely see you :-)). This year I won the Dutch poster contest from the Art Specially Event...to my surprise. That was a touching moment...that the judges had chosen my stamped card as the best of all the entries. But in the last years I also was asked 3 times to be guestdesigner at De Stempelwinkel and at Our Creative Corner. At this moment I'm a member of the Stampinback.nl designteam.

I really was honoured that Ryn asked me to be a Surprise Guestdesigner...and had lots of fun, creating with her gorgeous stamps, "Designs by Ryn". All the stamps are so detailed and unique... And I hope, you can enjoy my makes! Ryn, many thanks for this great opportunity...it was my pleasure to play with your lovely stamps! And of course I will use them over and over again after this!!

Kindest regards,

Alie :-)"

http://aliehoogenboezem-devries-atc.blogspot.nl

Thanks so much for stopping by. I would love to hear how you liked these creations by Alie and I'm sure she would too :) Until next time,

Ryn

 

August Customer Creation Draw

An InLinkz Link-up

My first stencils are here :D

Hurray!!! I am so excited to announce that today I am releasing my first 3 Stencil designs! They are all laser cut out of Mylar. I have just made them available in my store www.designsbyryn.com

Sizing

The dimensions for my new Stencil line are 6" by 9" with the designs ending about a half an inch from the border. After much debating, I settled on this size because I often create designs that don't fit into a square. Typically, Cards aren't square. Neither are Tags or Art Journals... I wanted to make the stencils practical for use on those surfaces.
With a rectangular shape you can choose the part of the stencil that you want to use on a card size piece. Or, if you are art journaling you can use the whole design to cover a larger area.

Versatility

I enjoy the challenge of making my designs as versatile as possible. Everyone has such a different style when creating so the Stamps and Stencils should be as open to interpretation as possible. As you know, I often design the Stamps in sets. I extend the image by making it different sizes or by flipping it to change the orientation. Smaller images are ideal for pieces like ATCs and Tags and larger images for Cards, Journals or Canvases. You can also mix them all together to create variation.
I've taken this same way of thinking and applied it to my Stencils. As you can see below with Maidenhair Fern, I made the design in three separate sizes. You can add to the largest size, use only a portion of it or use the smaller ones separately.

With Flowing Branches I made two equally sized images with the idea that they could be either tree trunks (used separately) or branches. I also kept in mind card sizing and made sure that they would look good if only a portion of the branch was visible. I believe sizing will work well with a lot of leaf, flower and bird stamps out there.

Lastly, Floral Spirals is an ideal image for backgrounds. Here is the image and a little gallery of examples from my talented Design Team.

This piece is by Karin van den Broek using Floral Spirals in the background. She also used Water Droplets 2 and Starfish Set from my Stamp collection. Karin's blog post HERE

In this card Shirley Detacher used Floral Spirals as a wave effect in the background with Dylusions Ink Sprays. Stamps used from my collection are Betta and Spiral Branch Set. Shirley's blog post HERE

I didn't design Floral Spirals to be seaweed but they really do feel like it in Karin's art journal. She also used Rising Bubbles from my Stamp collection. Karin's blog post HERE

Shirley's subtle use of Floral Spirals using gesso. Stamps used from my collection are African Daisy and Trickling Water Set. Shirley's blog post HERE

In this piece Wendy McCarthy used Floral Spirals in the background and Lucine from my Stamp collection. Wendy's blog post HERE

In this card Shirley used Viva molding cream with Floral Spirals. In the foreground sheembossed and cut out Spiral Shell from my Stamp collection. Shirley's blog post HERE

This is a close up shot from my Art Journal. I used molding paste through Floral Spirals and then lightly dusted it with white paint (using a paintbrush) when it was dry. I was really pleased with how well the ridges of the spirals showed up using the molding paste.

Lastly, happy me with my new stencils! I posted this one to Facebook already but for those of you who don't use Facebook I thought I'd show it on here too :)

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone for being patient with me through the time it took to create something new. I wanted the stencils to be original and offer everyone something unique. I'm excited to see what you will come up with using these.
Expanding beyond stamps feels like a big first step for my business. Thanks so much for sharing this moment with me :)
Bye for now,
Ryn

Guest Spotlight with Kellie Murton

Hello everyone,

Today's spotlight is on Guest Designer, Kellie Murton. Kellie purchased some stamps from me a while ago and it wasn't until some time later that sent me a link to some of the videos that she had made on YouTube. I was so touched to find a video that she posted 8 months earlier reviewing my products. I couldn't believe that she had gone out of her way to say a couple of nice words (more than a couple!) about my stamps without expecting anything in return. Just because she liked them so much! I showed my family right away and felt like I was floating around with a big smile on my face for the rest of the day.

It was Kellie's kindness as much as her talent that encouraged me to ask her to do a Guest Spotlight with my stamps. I was really surprised when she told me that I was the first to ask. She's the first artist that I have spotlighted who focuses on making process videos on YouTube. I think they're great and highly recommend watching a few. She's got a great candid way of narrating what she's doing. Her channel is Kellie Murton.

Kellie's Project

I sent a few stamps her way and am really happy to show what she sent back to me using Lucine and Water Droplets from my collection. Here's a pic of her project and a link to her video: http://youtu.be/stqxXMG6yMw

A bit about Kellie

"When I am not working or spending quality time with my 3 boys, ages 23, 11 and 9, you will likely find me in my studio working on my next crafting project, jewelry design or mixed media art journal page. I am the owner of InsideOut Field Services, a professional lender services business. I have over 25 years in the lender services and collections business and starting my own successful servicing business over 9 years ago was a dream come true. It's not all rainbows and butterflies of course but that is where my artistic passion comes in to play to level things out. I also own a small online store called Intoxication by Kellie that I am excited about taking to the next level in the coming months. My amazing husband, who is my soul mate and best friend, keeps me grounded and after all these years of working together and raising our family together, we still LIKE each other. Loving someone is easy. LIKING someone is another story entirely. All my boys are champions and they make me whole.

I've been sharing tutorials and fun creations on YouTube for about 4 years now. I also organized a Google+ community called The ICWIC Crew where we share mixed media projects to inspire each other. The crafting community that I have been fortunate enough to be part of never ceases to amaze me with their kindness and support. I've made some amazing friendships on YouTube that I am very grateful for. I was absolutely honored to be invited to be a guest designer for Ryn Tanaka with Designs by Ryn.com. I have been admiring her stamps for quite some time and I'm proud to demonstrate how I use her high quality products for you."

A big thanks to Kellie for this awesome project and video!!! More to come from her soon :) Hope you enjoyed this post! I've been having fun showcasing Guest Designers on my blog lately. If you have anyone that you would like to suggest please let me know.

Bye for now,

Ryn