My Holiday Gift to you...

Hey everyone,

My Holiday Gift to you...

I've decided to do something special this year to celebrate Christmas. Instead of offering discounted items for the month of December I'm going to give a Free Flowing Branches (stencil) to Everyone who orders from me this month. Doesn't matter the size of your order. No coupon code necessary. Everyone will get a little gift.

Here is my Flowing Branches stencil design (also used in Kristiina'w project below).

If you need your order to arrive on time for Christmas please keep in mind that regular mail could take 7-14 business days regularly. It will take longer at this time of the year. I recommend ordering as soon as possible if you need your package by the 25th.

November's Customer Creation Challenge Winner

This month there were 18 projects uploaded to the challenge. Thanks so much to all of you - returning contributors and new customers - for sharing your art with me! Keep on creating :)

I've drawn a winner (always random draw - no favourites) and it's Kristiina Majuri! A big congratulations! Please contact me at designsbyryn@gmail.com to collect your free cling-mounted stamp or stencil.

Here is Kristiina's winning project using Flowing Branches (stencil) from my collection. More process photos and detailed description on her blog HERE

I've also posted the December challenge HERE. Everyone is welcome to participate again this month. The monthly challenge is always located in the top navigation bar on my blog: www.designsbyryn.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Wishing you a wonderful month of December :)

Ryn

November Sales and Challenge Winner

Hey Everyone,

Hope you had a lovely Halloween weekend! Just a short one from me today... I've got some Sales and a Challenge Winner to announce...

October Customer Creation Challenge Winner...

Thanks to everyone for contributing! The November Challenge is up and you are more than welcome to show me your projects again HERE. Always a pleasure to see your art :)

Last month's randomly drawn winner is... June Swart! She uploaded from her Flickr account. I'm not on Flickr yet so I can't show the image but you can check it out HERE. It's a lovely layout using my Raindrop Set.

Please contact me by email to receive your free Cling-mounted Stamp or Stencil :) designsbyryn@gmail.com

November Sales!

The following cling-mounted stamps have been discounted by 50% on my site.

Celtic Dove Set - $5.99

Heart of Light - $4.49

Celtic Heart - $4.49

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

Ryn

 

Spotlight, Give Away, July News... Happy Canada Day!!!

Hello Everyone! HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

Lots to mention today including a Spotlight over at the Paper Crafter's Library, 2 Give Aways, the June Customer Creation Challenge Winner and July Sales... Here goes!

Paper Crafter's Library Spotlight

 

The wonderful people over at the Paper Crafter's Library have put together a lovely Spotlight for me. So thankful and proud to be up there!

If you haven't come across them online yet I highly suggest visiting. Lots of beautiful projects, new companies, video tutorials and inspiration of all kinds.

Here's a link: http://blog.papercrafterslibrary.com

A Photo Tutorial

To celebrate today's spotlight I wanted to do something special. I sat down at my art table and ended up with two cards and a photo tutorial. Outside it was a sunny summer day which definitely influenced the theme. I combined my Hibiscus and Raindrop stamps and this is the result... Summer rain...

The full photo tutorial and material list for these cards is on the Paper Crafter's Library blog HERE.

 

Give Away 

 

I'm also offering a Give Away both on the Paper Crafter's Library blog and on mine. Please feel free to participate in both! I am offering my Hibiscus unmounted stamp sheet on their blog (see below). Please visit them to qualify for this prize. Details on their blog HERE.

On my blog I am giving away the matching Hibiscus stencil below. To qualify, simply leave me a comment on this post. Please let me know if you found me through the Paper Crafter's Library. I'll randomly draw a winner and announce in a week's time (Wednesday).

 

June Challenge Winner 

 

Thanks to everyone for submitting their projects this month! Loved seeing every one of them as they came in. The July challenge is up on my blog now so please keep the projects coming :) If you are new to the challenge, it is always located in the top navigation bar. HERE is a link to July's challenge.

The winner for the June chalenge is... Elvira Kasirer!

A BIG congratulations!!! Please contact me by email to receive your free cling-mounted stamp or stencil: desginsbyryn@gmail.com

Here are Elvira's makes...

 

Sales for July 

 

Last but not least, here are the stamps that I've discounted for the month of July. I went with a "curly" theme.

Fiddlehead Set - $6.49

Spiral Branch Set - $6.49

Begonia - $4.49

Thanks for popping by! Wishing you a great month of July!!!
Bye for now,
Ryn

June Sales and Challenge Winner!

Hey everyone,
I just wrote a whole blog post and accidentally deleted it before publishing! Argh... Ever done that? On to my "second" post...

Customer Creation Challenge Winner

Thank you to everyone who shared their art in last month's challenge! I really appreciate seeing your creations. I've randomly drawn a winner for May. A BIG congratulations to... Debbie a.k.a. Daqa!!!!!
The June challenge is up and running now so please feel fee to participate again!
Here are Debbie's three projects for the month of May...

In this one she used Maidenhair Fern (stencil). Debbie's blog post HERE

Rising Bubbles and Dragonfly Faerie. Debbie's blog post for this card HERE

Debbie's last entry using Sea Turtle. Her blog post HERE

Sales for June

I decided to go with a sea creature theme this month. All of these cling-mounted stamps have been discounted by 50% on my website. Prices are in Canadian dollars. Hope you like my picks!

Butterfly Fish - $4.49

Betta - $4.49

Sea Turtle - $4.49

That's it for now. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

Bye for now,

Ryn

May News

Hey everyone,
Some quick news for May...

April Challenge Winner

Thank you to everyone who shared their art in last month's challenge! I really appreciate seeing your creations. I've randomly drawn a winner for April. A big congratulations to... Lagene!
Please contact me to receive your free cling-mounted stamp or stencil: designsbyryn@gmail.com
Below is the piece that she entered using Raindrops from my unmounted sheet Water Effects 2. HERE is her blog post.

Sales for April

I've chosen these stamps to be discounted by 50%. I picked flying creatures as a theme. Definitely inspired by Spring... I'm including a little gallery of some pieces that the DT has done with these stamps. Hope you enjoy!

Flying Hummingbird 3 - $4.49

See Miranda's blog post HERE

See Shirley's blog post HERE

Candra - $4.49

See Karin's blog post HERE

See Wendy's blog post HERE

Flying Hummingbird 1 - $4.49

See Anja's blog post HERE

See Anja's blog post HERE

I'm keeping it short and sweet today. Wishing you a wonderful day :)
Ryn

April News!!!

Hey everyone!

Hope you're doing well :)

Things have been good and busy around here! Just to let you know, I'm trying reallllly hard to peel myself away from the online world on weekends. I've realized that that I need time to myself to recharge and do non-work related things. It's just too easy to peak at my phone and get absorbed by all of the eye candy on Pinterest, emails, blogs, YouTube videos etc... The online world truly is never ending! Nice weather is returning to Ontario and the sunshine is reminding me that I like to be active. I will surely start to develop back problems if I spend all of my time sitting with my devices. So, for the sake of my body, mental wellbeing and creative spirit I must take a break! Lol.

If you write to me on weekends or leave comments on any of the social media sites that I maintain, I will look forward to reading and responding after the weekend - Monday :)

March Challenge Winner

Thank you to everyone who shared their art in last month's challenge! I really appreciate seeing your creations. I've randomly drawn a winner for March. A big congratulations to... Nikki!!!

Please contact me to receive your free cling-mounted stamp or stencil: designsbyryn@gmail.com

The piece that Nikki entered (using Silhouette Dove Set) and her blog post HERE

April Sales

(Last chance for cling-mounted Faeries)

I have decided to discontinue offering the individual cling-mounted faerie designs. The four designs below have been discounted by 50%. The other designs will be available as long as stock lasts.

The unmounted sheet "Faeries" will still be available going forward. It has all of the designs on it for $29.99 and is available in my online shop and at select retail stores.

Acorn Faerie Set - NOW $5.99

Harp Faerie - NOW $4.99

Hugging Faerie - NOW $4.99

Dancing Faeies - NOW $4.99

Retail Stores

I am very happy to say that wholesale is doing well. Thank you to customers around the world who have approached their local stores and asked them to check out my designs. So appreciate you helping me to get out there :)

A BIG thank you to all of the store owners who are offering my designs in their shops!!! I'm very happy to be working with you!

HERE is a link to my retailer list.

Classes

If you are a store or independent workshop instructor and you are planning a class using my designs please do let me know the details! I'd love to hear about it and help to get the word out there about what you are offering.

That's all my news for now! Wishing everyone a great Easter weekend! If you don't celebrate, wishing you a great weekend all the same :)

Bye for now,

Ryn

 

New Stamps and Stencils are now available!

Hey everyone,
Just a quick one today. For those of you who follow me here instead of Facebook I just wanted to let you know that I have made my new Stamp and Stencil designs available on my site! You can find them HERE

For more photos and info on my new designs you can check out my last two blog posts. Both full of photos and my design process.
Sending my best to you :)
Ryn

New Stencils coming out Tomorrow!

New Stencils
Hey everyone! As I said in my last post featuring my new Stamp designs, I was going to do one big post with my New Releases but I had WAY too many photos to share with you! I'm breaking up the news into two posts. Here's the Stencil portion...
These stencils are all 6" by 9" laser cut from Mylar. I tried to design them so that you can use parts of the design or the whole thing to make them as versatile as possible. Hope you like them! They'll be available on my site along with my new unmounted stamps on Wednesday March 11th!!!

Gingko S-5

Above are my first experiments using my Gingko stencil. In the first image I used modeling paste. When dry, I put the stencil back overtop and sponged pearlescent paint on. When dry, I sponge on green paint. You can see the pearlescent paint shining through. Love that effect!

The second image is a mix of Distress ink through the stencil (in the background) and the same modeling paste technique in the bottom right corner.

Japanese Anemone S-6

In the first image I used the same modeling paste technique as with the Gingko leaves. The second is Distress inks rubbed through the stencil.

Hibiscus S-4

The first image of Hibiscus was done by rubbing Distress inks through the stencil. For the second card I used modeling paste. I haven't added colour to it yet so that is the colour of the paste.

My Design Process

Thank goodness for the built in camera in my phone. It makes gathering research pics when out and about so much easier! This Gingko lives in my neighbourhood. I also collected some leaves from the ground to study them close up. Here are my rough sketches and first inkings.

I started with many lines in the leaves (true to life) and ended up simplifying as the design progressed. I think they look much better with less linework.

I still prefer to draw on paper instead of directly into my computer. It takes more time this way because I have to scan and then clean the images. I think it's worth it though.

You may remember that I posted on Facebook asking for your help in identifying this beautiful plant. Thanks to you I now know that it's a Japanese Anemone :)

Gathering research photos at my local garden center...

As you can see the designs get a lot more refined as I go. I try to start loose and then tighten the images by smoothing the linework etc...

There's the added complication of engineering when designing stencils as well. The design has to hold together. I think of the linework as little bridges. They can't be too thin or they might collapse but to keep the design flow I don't like making them too fat either. These are my 4th, 5th and 6th stencil designs and I think I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

Here's a very happy me when I received the proofs for my stencils and saw that the designs worked out really well! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and for reading about what I'm up to. I so appreciate your support and enthusiasm :)

Bye for now,

Ryn