Welcome!

Welcome to the Designs by Ryn blog! The monthly Customer Creation Challenge can be found above in the navigation menu as well as links to my Shop, Facebook Page and Pinterest. Along the right you will find my Design Team. I hope you enjoy your visit and leave with some inspiration.

Friday, September 26, 2014

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

 

 

Thursday, September 18, 2014

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

 

 

Monday, September 01, 2014

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.

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