I've been shopping...

Hi everyone!

I've been shopping again (whoops!) I've got some lovely new stamps and yet more promarkers! I got 6 stamps from Lili of the Valley, 1 from Kanban, 6 new sets of promarkers (plus 4 single pens), 2 promarker cases, some fabric (which I'll show in a seperate post) and some pinking shears from Fiskars. Phew!

First up in the Lili of the Valley stamps. I've seen loads of people use them on the internet but I've never actually tried them out myself. I took the plunge and bought 6 stamps. The designs are far too cute to pass up on! They each come in a little clear bag, and they are unmounted so you just get the rubber image, nothing else. One of mine needed a bit of extra trimming to get rid of the excess rubber but the others were all fine.

Because they're unmounted you've got to find something to stick them to to be able to use them. On their website Lili of the Valley suggest using a glue stick to stick the stamps onto a clear block. That way the stamp can be peeled off and washed when you're finished, and the block/stamp won't be ruined. I didn't have a glue stick to hand to I just used some repositionable tape runner on the back of the stamp and then stuck it onto a clear block. It works but I want to get some EZ Mount Foam to make the stamps cling to the blocks on their own. Below is a photo of all 6 stamps quickly stamped onto card. From left to right on the top row first is 1) Teddy flower 2) Teddy - For mum 3) Thomas big bunch of flowers 4) Little nurse 5) Rosie Posy 6) Close your eyes. All of these stamps are £4.50 each and can be found here. 

Next up is a clear stamp set from Kanban. Now I don't really like clear stamps. I haven't had the best experiences with them in the past due to them not stamping properly, falling off the block etc. But I've never tried Kanban and I loved the design so I thought I'd try it. This set is called Hamish and I think the little bear is just adorable!

I'm going to use this set to make my dads Fathers day card (my dad is Scottish in case you hadn't guessed). I'm pretty sure that I've got some tartan paper somewhere in my craft box which would go really well with this set. I'll be sure to post the card once it's finished :)

I'm going to colour him in with Promarkers, which leadds me onto my next purchase. Hobbycraft had yet another sale on Promarkers (they really need to stop doing that, my poor bank balance can't handle it!) So me being me and being a Promarkers obsessive I got a "few" more sets....ok I got 6!

There are 3 sets of 5 pens,which are Skin Accents, Hues and Modern Textiles and then 3 sets of 10 pens plus 1 fineliner which are the Comic Art 1, 2 and 3 sets. I then also bought 4 single pens from my local Rennies Art and Supplies shop, 1 of which was a replacement for a colour I got in one of the sets because the bullet nib wouldn't work. I got the cases from eBay.

I now have a total of 84 Promakers including 2 blender pens, 3 fine liners and 14 doubles (which is what happens when you buy sets, it's cheaper but you end up with a few of the same colours). I've organised them all into colour families and marked the side of each case so I know what colours are in each case. My mum was laughing at how organised I am haha!

Last but not least is my pinking shears. These are by Fiskars and I bought them to do my patchwork quilt with. Fiskars is a very well known brand and it is a brand that I trust as I have had Fiskars scissors in the past and they have lasted years. But they were expensive. I guess you get what you pay for though, if you want quality it costs more.

That's all for my little shopping trip now. I can't wait to start using all of these things!

I've got another post to put up later of a projects using sizzix embosslits. So come back later and check it out.

Bye for now