Saturday was our 2nd Ultimate Rubber Stamping Demo Day, featuring 7 fantastic demonstrators and their awesome projects and creations. Thank you to all those that came to support the shop and the girls. Sorry for the queues at the till but I hope the free demos and free food made up for it.



Gina demo'd the wonderful watercolouring with Art Impressions stamps and plenty of glitter - surely you all have that darn skeleton tree stamp by now!!




I still find glitter from her demos in all the nooks and crannies around the place :)
All the lovely name signs that you saw around the room on saturdya were created by Gina as was the little hand painted and decorated pots of sweeties - thanks for that Gina, it's always the finishing touches that make it special.


Brenda kept everyone entertained with her fantastic 3D roses that are just amazing. You would just not believe how these guys come about using just a six petal'ed flower punch. Brenda's actually popped a tutorial about this on her blog today so if you missed out on the demo day, please go and have a peek at her step by step tutorial at "Floral Fantasies".

Brenda used these 3D roses to decorate fork 'andles (and a few extra).


Also here's a click glimpse of cards finished off very nicely with the roses.



Chris kept busy all day embossing flowers with her peanut technque, stamping Inkadinkado designs and talking through all her gorgeous projects including her hand made calendar and the festive "Noel" mantelpiece decoration:


and her little Sarah Kay house:


Keep up-to-date with her latest creations at her blog - "Always About Colour".


Copic Louise just had far too much fun with the Copic Markers.


Louise had a different take on the 3D flower creation and used 5 petal'ed retro flowers to create gorgeous flowers. Look at all these pieces of artwork she's created:


and the 'crème de la crème' just had to be this advent calendar she made, inspired by projects from the first issue of the Magnolia magazine (more due in store in a couple of weeks).


You can see this in more detail (and other gorgeous creations) at her blog - "Just Love to Stamp".


Ok, if I mention cream shrink plastic, tildas and versacolour inkpads in one sentence, who comes to mind? Of course, none other than the very talented Crafty Lou:


She had plenty of card samples to show you all on Saturday and here's just a small spread of them:




Keep up with all Crafty Lou's artwork by checking out her blog - "Crafty Lou's Small World"


We'd been blessed with the presence of Kim Reygate for most of last week.


Kim was extremely helpful, assisting us with all sorts of general Sir Stampalot duties including one of the major ones - keeping us feed and watered (thanks for the endless cups of tea and salads and hot food, Kim). And then the finale to her week was demo'ing all the cool new gadgets (creative metal)



and plenty of the good ole stuff (alcohol inks, stamping, inking):


Kim's recently started her own blog, see what it's all about here.


And finally, Lisa, one of our latest tutor/demonstrators to join our little "band of merry men".


She was just a complete star at the demo day - donning a very festive hat with full on jingly bell.


As well as demo'ing the functionality of the Cricut, Lisa wow'ed you all with the latest must-have accessory to the Cricut, the Gypsy. This is the a portable "design studio", giving you the ability to create your designs on the go and then cut your creation when you get back to base with your Cricut. She loved it. I had to wrestle it off of her at the end of the day as she didn't want to part with it!!!
Her talents don't stop there, here's her series of Tilda canvas' that she's worked hard at.


These will be run as a set of classes next year so watch out for that in the new class list (due to go live around 22nd Dec).
And also all the scrapbook wonders she's got planned next year too. Here's one layout she was having fun putting together on Saturday:




Luckily it was a Saturday, you guys managed to dominate the car park:


And finally, one big, big thank you to all you demonstrators, the day would not be what it was without you. And to my wonderful helpers, Mandy, Steph, Eddy and Azaria - we would be a wreck without you! And also to our very own photographer and gopher - Nick - cheers.



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New Stamp Designs from Hero Arts

About this time every year, Hero Arts release a debut collection as a taster of new designs for the New Year. The designs are being released on Friday 18th Dec. We have it all on order (but no idea what's in the collection until the release date, so don't try to force us to tell you before then!)

However, We at Sir Stampalot are holding a special debut party on Saturday 19th Dec from 6pm til Midnight, where you'll be able to view the complete Hero Arts debut collection. And we will be offering you a FREE copy of the 2010 Hero Arts collector's catalogue with every qualifying pre-order purchase of Hero Arts goodies.
On top of all that, there'll be Make 'n Take projects, door prizes, hot chocolate, munchies and more!

And the coolest thing ever, is that Hero Arts has featured us on their blog today. What an honour. They have a wonderful blog packed full of ideas and samples, go check it out here.

in the meantime, happy stamping
- janicex

Gina certainly knows how to keep you guys entertained. At the NEC she drew the crowds as always. I think this just had to be my most favourite card out of the ones she demo'd.




I love the way she's used the Art Impressions Phone Box and topped it off with Snow Writer (now back in stock) with some added bling (prisma glitter) to give it a real glistening snowy feel.



Gina's also stamped out the wrought iron fence a couple of times whilst masking off the phone box to place the phone box infront of the fence and then stamped the birch tree and grove of trees to make them look like they are behind the fence. A little bit of added foliage with the leaves stamp and teeny tiny grass, and you have yourself a fantastic festive scenic card. Finished off very nice with the greeting, which I firstly didn't realise what stamp Gina had used, until she pointed out it was a verse stamp and she'd only used part of it (that's the great thing about using the Marvy Le Plume II pens, they give you complete control). I so love that font on the greeting.

Now, although that phone box card is my favourite, this next card definitely wins the most points for the most ingenious.






This design, you just won't believe it, is actually created by using a twig stamp design (wc bare branch).
If you click on the link you'll see what it looks like to start with. This idea came to Gina in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep, and then she had to get up and out of bed, straight to her craft room, to try it out while it was still fresh in her mind. Now I know she's not the only one who seems to get wonderful ideas in the middle of the night (our scrapbook tutor Lisa - to name another!!). And i'm sure many of you do too - keep a notebook and pen by your bedside - definitely worthwhile.

Anyhow, back to "twiggy". Gina's stamped it at North, South, East and West on a small square of card, then again between each of those impressions, all so that the base of the twig touches in the middle (or close enough). You'll then be able to see 'petals' that you can colour in, add some glitter, a lovely sparkly gem in the centre and you've got yourself a superb, very creative, poinsettia card.

Thanks Gina for all your wonderful ideas that you share with us. It is very much appreciated.


The 2nd Ultimate Rubber Stamping Demo Day
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This Saturday - 5th December 2009

If you want to come and see Gina in action - along with 6 other fantastic demonstrators (Brenda, Copic Louise, Crafty Lou, Chris, Kim, Scrapbook Lisa), then we are holding our 2nd Ultimate Rubber Stamping Demo Day here at Sir Stampalot in Peterborough. If you came last year, you'll know how good it was (and hopefully will be again this year). Brenda's hubby Eddy and grand-daughter Azaria will be on Free Food and Drink duty!! It was such a blast last year. Bring your camera. It's totally free. Rolling demo's (including copics, cricut, gypsy, watercolouring, metal work, distressing, tildas, fork 'andles!) from all 7 ladies all day long (10am- 4pm) and I seriously suggest you allow at least a couple of hours for your visit. Cant' wait to see you all.

Click here for directions to Sir Stampalot, Peterborough.

Sign up to our online newsletter as, later next week, we'll be featuring some product discount vouchers to use instore on that day - Saturday 5th Dec.

in the meantime, happy stamping
- janicex