Guest Spotlight with Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries

Hello everyone,

Today I am excited to present a talented lady from the Netherlands! I have been following Alie's blog for some time and always leave inspired after a visit. A few weeks ago I invited her to do a Guest Spot and was so pleased when she said yes. I sent 5 stamps that she wanted and didn't have to wait long at all before my inbox was full of presents. Lol. I told Alie that it felt like Christmas ;)

I love how she decided to combine the stamps. My favorite is the friendship between Left Corner Mermaid and Betta in the third card below. The quote is a perfect choice as is every other that she used. I'll get to her makes below but first, here's a little bit about the artist.

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 time 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 :-)"

Click to visit Alie's blog: http://aliehoogenboezem-devries-atc.blogspot.nl

Alie's Gallery

And now for Alie's creations!

The frontside of the notebook cover

The backside of the notebook cover

Played with natural and blue Bister (sprayed with water) on a white card and used the following stamps of Designs by Ryn:

• Betta fish - CM-53
• Leafy Branch - CM-F15
• Sea Bubbles Set - CM-S15
• Raindrop Set - CM-T10
• Text stamp is from Stampinback.nl

White aquarel paper, coloured with Kuretake markers and sprayed water. Removed some colour with a wet cleaning cloth.

Used stamps of Designs by Ryn:

• Betta fish - CM-53
• Rising Bubbles - CM-T8
• Sea Bubbles Set - CM-S15

This is a card with a blue, yellow and orangeDylusions Ink Sprays Background. Put some waterdrops on it and dried it with the heatgun, this are the lighter spots. The white circles are made with the top of the Picket Fence Distress Stain. Some bigger circles with blue Distress Ink.

Used stamps of Designs by Ryn:

• Betta fish - CM-53
• Sea Bubbles Set - CM-S15
• Rising Bubbles - CM-T8
• Left Corner Mermaid - CM-M4

A white card with brown, blue and green Bister, sprayed with water so the colours flow together. Accents with metallic Derwent pencils and golden gelly pen. The mermaid and drops are stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with golden embossingpowder

Used stamps of Designs by Ryn:

• Raindrop Set - CM-T10
• Left Corner Mermaid - CM-M4
• Leafy Branch - CM-F15
• Text stamp: unknown

Used the Sanded Background Technique on the triangle (see the second picture) with a honeycomb stencil. Glued it on two different coloured pink cards. Coloured the mermaid with Kuretake markers.

Used stamps of Designs by Ryn:

• Sea Bubbles Set - art.nr. CM-S15
• Left Corner Mermaid - art.nr. CM-M4
• Text stamp: Stampinback

Well that's it for now! A BIG thank you Alie for your beautiful makes :) You were an absolute delight to collaborate with and your pieces are beautiful!

 

I've got a few more pieces from Alie coming next week. Many thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this Guest Spot. Please do stop by Alie's BLOG for a visit. Lots of inspiration there!!!

Bye for now!

Ryn

 

July Sales & News!

Hello everyone :)
Hope you're enjoying your summer so far! I've been busy making some improvements around here. I'll start with the news and then list this month's sales below.
Changes to the Customer Creation Draw
Up until now, you've been sending your photos to my email account or posting them to my Facebook wall. It's been a pleasure to see your art! As more of you share your projects I've realized a need to streamline the process. I want to spend less time administrating and more time designing.
To allow for this I have created a tab along the top of my blog "Monthly Draw" that links directly to the draw for that month. Within the post you can upload your photo, name, description and specific blog link (if you have one). This way you can see all of the projects sent in to date and visit the creator's blog posts.
I will still randomly pick a winner from the batch. They will be announced at the beginning of each month and will receive a free stamp as a prize.
You can check out past galleries on the right hand side of my blog. Scroll down until you see "Labels" and click on "Customer a Creation Draw". All posts with that label will be brought up.
June's Draw Winner is...
Barbara Cleggett! A big thank you and congratulations to you :D
Here are Barbara's entries below...

HERE is a link to this one.

Barbara's second post HERE

UPS Shipping Coming Soon!
Up until now I have only been offering Canada Post as a shipping option on my site. They are great for small orders but I wanted to be able to give you a different option. Especially for my international customers as tracking numbers start at $40 through Canada Post. Yikes! UPS rates start a little bit higher but every order comes with a tracking number and delivers in a much shorter time frame. If all goes well I am aiming to have UPS implemented by the end of the month.
Stencils Coming Soon!
It has been a long time since I have released new designs and I thank you very much for being patient with me. I feel like I hit a bottleneck of business improvements that needed to be made before I could dedicate time to art again. There seems to be a constant battle between the left and right side of my brain ;) I love art AND I love this business.
Over the last couple of months I have been researching companies to produce a line of stencils for me. I've also educated myself on how to convert my designs to the right file type for laser cutting (vector was definitely a learning curve!!!).
Now I'm eagerly awaiting the production of my first three stencil designs. I can't wait to receive them in the mail and to show you. I'm hoping that by the end of July they'll be ready. Nice thing about stencils is that they're light for shipping ;)
July Stamps Marked Down 50%
Finally, here are my picks for this month. We have hot weather here in Ontario which I believe influenced my choices. Can't help but think of nice cool water on a hot day! Here are some aquatic creatures for you.

Leafy Sea Dragon ~ $4.49

Wanda ~ $4.49

Sea Turtle ~ $4.49

Well that's it for now. I'll keep you posted about the Shipping and Stencils. Lots to come later this month!!! Thanks for having the care to stop by and read about what I'm up to. All my best to you :)

Ryn

July Customer Creation Draw

An InLinkz Link-up

Customer Gallery #15

Hello everyone! Hope your week's off to a good start :)
Here are the latest sent in projects using Designs by Ryn stamps. Hope you enjoy! I've included blog links to the artists where possible.
To start things off, here is what the winner of last month's Customer Creation Draw made with her prize (Flying Hummingbird 2). Big thank you Jenny Pilz for sending in your make!!!

Jenny's blog post HERE

Kellie has made an awesome video showing how she made this piece using Striped Reed Set. Highly recommend checking it out HERE

A couple of pieces from Barbara Cleggett. In this floral arrangement she used African Daisy and Ornate Leaf Set. Her blog post HERE

One more from Barbara using Butterfly Fish. She made the stencil in the back! Way to go Barbara! Her blog post HERE

This one's from Amanda using Ornate Leaf Set. Love how she used the stamps large out small along the branch. There's no specific post for this project but you can visit Amanda's blog HERE

This one is from Zoe using Striped Reed Set. Like how she used the white gel pen to help pop out the leaves. Her blog post HERE

Bernie's used Kelp, Patio Stone and Spiral Shell in this piece. She teaches classes in Plymouth, UK. More on her blog HERE

This one is from Ute using Raindrop Set. The scale of the droplets makes the little boat look tiny in a big storm doesn't it? Her blog post HERE

Here's a creation from Sandie using Water Droplets. She doesn't have a blog but you can find her as sistersandie on Splitcoaststamper.

These last pieces are made by Cybele, a ceramic artist located in Toronto. You can see any of her pieces on her blog HERE In this one she used Seahorse Set.

That's all for now. Hope you're leaving inspired :) Thank you to everyone who contributed to this gallery!!!
Bye for now,
Ryn

Happy Father's Day

Hey everyone,
I'm off to spend the day with my dad. Just wanted to post something quick. I'm giving this card to him. Shhhhh ;)

Lots going on in this one. I'll have to explain some of the techniques in more detail another time.
The background is Dyslusions Ink Sprays (watered down quite a lot). I stamped Luna from my collection with VersaFine ink and coloured the wings with Tombow Markers. I then blended the colour inwards with water. I used Distress inks through the stencil. After all of that was done I sealed the paper with matte medium to keep the colours from running.
Overtop, I did a layer of fluid acrylics in clear tar gel. Really cool marbling effects. First time using them in a card and I love them!!! More on that another time... Below you can see that it dries with a glossy finish.

Last touches were some ripped up Japanese rice paper that I had coloured with Dylusions Ink Sprays and some foil. Finished!

That's it for me. Sorry if the description for this one was rushed. I want to spend the day with my dad :) Wishing you all a great Father's Day!
Adios for now!
Ryn

Customer Gallery #14

Hello everyone :)
I've got a lot of projects to share in this gallery. 21 to be exact. Wow!!! Thank you to everyone who has contributed artwork for this post!

Sarn has used Raindrop Set and Sea Bubbles Set. Her blog post HERE

Bronnie's used Circle Cluster Set. Her blog post HERE

In this pennant Sheelagh used Water Droplets. Her blog post HERE

Doreen's used Raindrop Set in this tag. Her blog post HERE

In this tag Jane's used Rising Bubbles. Her blog post HERE

Felicie's used Leafy Branch in the background and Flying Hummingbird 2 and 3 in the foreground. Her blogpost HERE

Kay's creation using Lucine. Her blog post HERE

Denise's card using Rising Bubbles. I don't have a link to this specific project but you can visit her blog HERE

Wilma's used Silhouette Dove Set and Kelp in the background of this layout. HERE's an awesome video showing how she put this together.

Zoe's tag using Raindrop Set. I don't have a link to a specific post for this one but you can visit her blog HERE.

A project from Sandie using Buttefly Fish, Spiral Branch Set and Rising Bubbles.

Cynthia's used Water Droplets 2.

Sonja's gilded Flying Hummingbird 2 in this project. Must try this!

A card by Bernie using Raindrop Set.

A fun and colourful project from Alda.

Carola's card using Water Droplets. Her blog post HERE

This piece is from Carola in Aruba. She's used Raindrop Set and Sea Bubbles Set.

Karen's project using Trickling Water Set. Her blog post HERE

Lastly, a couple of projects from Bozena. She's used Flying Hummingbird 2 in this card. Her blog post HERE

Bozena's used Sea Bubbles Set and Leafy Sea Dragon. Her blog post HERE

So many different styles and all beautiful creations. It's always a pleasure to see what you are up to :)

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Ryn

June News!

Hello everyone,
Sorry I'm writing late today. A lot of you in Europe will already be asleep. Or not, if you're a night owl like me ;)
I've got as few sales to announce for June, the 1000 like challenge on Facebook and the Customer Creation Draw winner for last month...
Sales for this Month
The following three stamps have been discounted by 50% on my site (www.designsbyryn.com) I hope you like the selection for this month!

Betta - $4.49

Clown Fish - $4.49

Fish Scales - $4.99

The 1000 like Challenge

I just checked and it looks like the Designs by Ryn Facebook Page is at 999 likes. I'm so excited!!! I think it's important to stop and take the time to celebrate achievements along this journey. But how? I posed the question to you on Facebook and got some great suggestions for free stuff and a challenge. So here goes, my very first challenge...

Once we hit 1000 likes the challenge begins. The first 5 people to share a new project using one of my stamps as a focal point will receive a stamp of their choice. Photos of projects must be posted to my Facebook Wall. Please feel free to leave links to your blogs so that others can visit you as well.

Keep an eye on my Page. As soon as we hit 1000 the challenge is on! Good luck :)

Customer Creation Draw Winner

I've also randomly drawn a winner for the Customer Creation Draw... Jenny Pilz! Below is her creative take on the smart phone/tablet. I absolutely love the little 'app' icons on this card! Genius!

In the top row she used Trickling Water from my collection and in the last row Raindrop Set.

Please stop by Jenny's blog HERE to see her post on this project and to leave her a comment.

Everyone is welcome to participate in June's Customer Creation Draw. All you have to do is send in a project using one or more of my stamps (feel free to use other products as well). You can send the photo to my email address: designsbyryn@gmail.com or post it to my Facebook Wall. Be sure to add a link to your blog post if you have one. I randomly draw a winner on the first of every month and announce here. The winner gets a free stamp!
Thanks for stopping by,
Ryn