Graphicus Blog

Ceased Trading

2010-12-11T07:38:00.000Z

Graphicus Ltd ceased trading in December 2010. Please visit my own blog glendawaterworth.com to find out more about our new company.

new on the website

2009-05-14T13:02:00.004+01:00

A quick note to update you on some new items added to the website this week:

Tim Holtz Lights and Brights Alcohol Inks added to the alcohol ink range
Lots of new Ten Seconds Studio products: Kabuka molds, Big Daddy molds and lots of new colours of Ten Seconds Studio Metal Sheets.
Sparkle and Sprinkle Embossing Powders.

Enjoy!
Carrie

Sing a Yellow Song - Challenge Winner

2009-05-13T08:34:00.004+01:00

We have a winner for the March challenge. What a tough job it has been as the standard of entries is amazingly high. In the end, I chose Lina Jachnik's beautiful album which features Oliver Twitter.

I know that yellow pushed a lot of you outside your comfort zone, but the results were just beautiful and I'll be sharing all of them with you very soon. Thank you so much to everyone who took part, they were all stunning.

I know that I'm a bit behind with the challenges here, but I have been working on something new to make life easier for us to showcase the challenges properly. I'm just making some final adjustments and I'll soon be ready to reveal all. Check back soon!

Linda, please can you get in touch with Judith at the office to claim your gift voucher.

Glenda

Graphicus Website changes

2009-05-05T19:07:00.002+01:00

If you have any trouble shopping from or even just seeing the Graphicus website over the next few hours, don't worry, we are moving the website to a new server this evening and it can take a while for everything to re-appear as it used to.

There are one or two minor changes - you will see a new button at the top that says My Account. If you have ever ordered online before, you can now log in and change your details such as address, password, etc. You can also view your order history - use with caution if the other half is looking over your shoulder!!

This login is nothing to do with the email newsletters by the way, that's completely separate. You only get a website login if you have actually purchased something before. If you shop for the first time, you will be taken through the process of setting up an account.

If you have any problems shopping online, you can call the office on 01833 695958, Monday to Friday, 9.00am - 5.00pm and we'll do our very best to help.

Glenda

May Challenge

2009-05-02T13:15:00.004+01:00

May's challenge theme is TRAVEL and the colour scheme is BLUE.

Part of me is thinking ahead to Father's Day with this combination, both the theme and the scheme are capable of being quite masculine, but of course that is entirely up to you and very much open to a whole host of other interpretations.

I can also imagine an endless beach with tropical blue sea and balmy blue skies ... you can tell our central heating boiler is still broken can't you?

Anyway, have fun with this one - I'm having a bit of a catch up and will be announcing some previous challenge winners soon.

Closing date: Midnight on May 31st 2009.

Glenda

Graphicus Challenge Guidelines

How do I submit my entry? (see below for help with links)

If you want to take part, you need to leave a comment on this post right here with a link back to your own blog or a photo album where we can see your entry.

1. If you have a blog:

put a photo of your challenge entry on your blog, then leave a comment on this blog entry with a link to the right place on your own blog where people can see your artwork.

That way, our blog readers will be able to read the challenge details, then go straight to all the challenge submissions via the comments.

2. If you don't have a blog, but you have an online album such as Picasa, Flickr, Picture Trail, etc,

leave a comment here on this entry with a link to the photo in your online album.

How to leave a link in a blog comment

Bloggers can find the cheat's way to create a link in a comment on my blog. Otherwise you can use a simple bit of html code like this:

<a href="link address">your text </a>

so for example, if I wanted to create the following comment

Great challenge, you can see my entry here

what I would actually type in the comments box would be:

Great challenge, you can see my entry <a href="http://artylicious.wordpress.com">here </a>

Winners

The winner will be chosen by Graphicus staff and our choice is final. In order for this to work, we can no longer accept anonymous comments on the blog, so you will need to register with Blogger, have a Google account, or have a valid Open ID to be able to leave a comment.

Winners will be announced on the blog during the month following the challenge and asked to get in touch with their contact details.

How do I win a prize?

To be considered for a prize, your entry needs to feature products available from Graphicus. I don't want to be restrictive about what you can and can't use, but people looking at the winning artwork will expect to be able to find the main featured items on the Graphicus website. That gives you lots of scope because as well as our own brands (Elusive Images and Artylicious), Graphicus stocks products from a huge range other companies.

Free UK Delivery

2009-04-22T06:56:00.004+01:00

I just thought you might like to know that we are offering free UK delivery on the Graphicus website on orders over £15.00. Full terms and conditions can be found on our delivery information pages.

Glenda

April Challenge

2009-04-07T22:22:00.003+01:00

Sorry it's late, but better late than never. So, the April challenge welcomes in Spring with the theme of BLOSSOM and the colour palette PINK & GREEN.

So show us your best artwork featuring Graphicus products and we'll give away a £25 Graphicus voucher to the winner. Please read the guidelines below before submitting your entry, thanks.

Closing date is midnight April 30th 2009.

Glenda

February Challenge Winner

2009-04-07T22:13:00.003+01:00

Oh good grief, it's seven days into April, I haven't told you what this month's challenge is and I'm only just getting round to announcing the February challenge winner!

Well without further ado, the winner (which was INCREDIBLY hard to choose) is this one from Laura:

There were so many fantastic entries it is really hard to choose, but this just had a quirkiness and a lot of work in it and combined the home theme and the colours together very well.

We also had some great entries sent to the office and we will try to get some piccies of those uploaded too. Thank you so much to everyone who played along - you really are a talented bunch!

Laura, can you get in touch to claim your prize - thanks!

Watch out for the April challenge coming up next.

Glenda

new website items

2009-03-31T08:17:00.010+01:00

It's been quite a while since I had chance to write a post to tell you about the new website items, and there have been quite a few new items up in the last month or so.

The new Elusive Images releases are all online:

Butterfly Daisy Collage

Butterfly Poppy Collage

All of the following fab products can be seen in action in this post on Glenda's blog:

Funky Studio 490 stamps by Wendy Vecchi
Shimmerz paint - little pots of shimmery goodness
Intricate ScrapFX chipboard
Cute little Dew Drops embellishments

We also now have the Slice Machine in stock, as well as design cards and accessories.

There are few more Tim Holtz items online too: Foliage, Ornate Plates, Link Chain and Corners.

And finally for the moment, we have plenty of the lovely Perfect Pearls in stock.

Enjoy!

Carrie

January Challenge winner card

2009-03-04T10:29:00.002Z

Following on from the January challenge winner announcement, here is the beautiful card by Helen Baldwin that was our winning entry. Congratulations again, Helen!

March Challenge

2009-03-01T13:15:00.004Z

Ok, time to get your thinking caps on, I have the March challenge for you.

The colour scheme is YELLOW and the challenge theme is SING.

Someone pointed out to me recently that I use a lot of yellow in my work and I hadn’t realised that I did. I rarely use yellow paper (unless I’m covering it up with other colours), but when painting, spritzing or doing direct to paper techniques, I often do start with a yellow tone to give the whole thing warmth.

Yellows can range in tone from an acid, almost green toned yellow, right through daffodil to sunshine to rich natural ochre. Add white to ochre to make beautiful cream tones that go with almost anything.

You can use a song lyric as your inspiration, or it may make you think of birds, choirs, rock bands, etc. It might have a more metaphorical meaning to you - does your heart sing when you see a certain person or paint with a certain colour? (Wild thing, you make my heart sing ...)

I think I've been influenced by my yearning for spring as the Beatles song 'Here comes the Sun' is running through my head and I feel inspired to make some sunshiney little ATCs.

If you want to take part, you need to leave a comment on this post right here with a link back to your own blog or a photo album where we can see your entry. Bloggers can find easy instructions on how to create a link in a comment on my blog. Otherwise you can use a simple bit of html code like this:

<a href="link address">your text </a>

so for example, if I wanted to create the following comment

Great challenge, you can see my entry here.

What I would actually type in the comments box would be:

Great challenge, you can see my entry <a href="http://artylicious.wordpress.com">here </a>

If you're linking to a blog entry, remember to give us the specific blog post where we can see your challenge entry, not just the main page of your blog.

Closing date is midnight March 31st 2009.

Glenda

February Challenge entries

2009-02-28T18:02:00.001Z

As always, the standard is so high that choosing a winner is amazingly difficult. I have other entries to add which were sent into the office, so the winner will be selected once I have reviewed them all.

Any last minute entries will be added to the above slide show tomorrow, when I will also be posting the March challenge!

Glenda

January Challenge Winner

2009-02-28T16:05:00.005Z

Well what a tough job that was. I managed to get all the online entries in one place to view, then we gathered together all the entries that had been sent to the office and put them all out by the computer so we could look at everything together.

It really was difficult, but in the end I selected a card by Helen Baldwin as the overall winner. I didn't have my camera, but I will get photos of all the other entries onto the blog as soon as I can.

Well done Helen, I'll get your beautiful card uploaded next week.

Glenda

more new website items

2009-02-25T17:15:00.002Z

We have some amazing new rubber stamp themeplates from Tim Holtz that arrived today!

Check them out here...

Enjoy!

Carrie

new website items

2009-02-25T10:43:00.003Z

Just a very quick post to let you know about a couple of items new to the website:

Nestabilities

and a range of paints and sticky-backed canvas from Claudine Hellmuth.

Enjoy!

Carrie

January Challenge - online entries

2009-02-12T06:18:00.003Z

Here are all the online entries for the January challenge. If you click on the image it will take you to a Picasa album where you can see the whole lot in one go.

JAN 2009 CHALLENGE

Again, a big, big thank you to everyone who took part - how on earth you expect me to pick a winner is beyond me ...

I'm definitely open to suggestions for how we can do this in the future as (a) it is rather more popular than I thought it would be, (b) Mr Linky didn't work for everyone, and (c) most people didn't put links in their comments.

So, we need a simple mechanism for a bunch of non techie people to share photos in one place which requires minimal intervention from me or my team, but doesn't get flooded with unwanted spam images.

Any techies out there with a simple solution?

Glenda

January Challenge - Bear with us

2009-02-11T06:12:00.003Z

We haven't forgotten we need to pick a winner for our January challenge, but things are pretty hectic around here at the moment.

I may have to rethink how we do challenge submissions as it's proving quite a challenge for us to sort through all of the online submissions and the physical submissions that have been sent to the office. Choosing a winner is incredibly hard too because the standard is so high!

We will pick the winner by the end of Feb, but with everything that's going on right now, I don't want to make promises to do it any sooner than that!

Glenda

Win new Elusive Images stamps

2009-02-08T15:16:00.003Z

Elusive Images (our rubber stamp company) is giving away stamps. Yup, for real. Why not take a look, you have til Tuesday to win and if you're a blog owner, you have an extra chance to win too.

I have a new TV show which will be showing on Create and Craft on Tuesday 10th Feb at 1.00pm with these fab new stamps, plus Derwent pencils and kaleidacolor inkpads.

Read all about it on the Elusive Images Design Team Blog.

Glenda

December artwork

2009-02-05T09:58:00.002Z

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the December artwork.

I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 1, which was made by:

Sue Law

Congratulations Sue! Your voucher is on its way to you today.

Our new challenge theme is detailed here and all the details of how the challenge works are here. Have fun!

Carrie

February Challenge

2009-02-01T07:03:00.001Z

It's the depths of winter and what better place to be than snuggled into your own home. I can't wait to see what you come up with for our February challenge:

HOME

And the February colour scheme is

BRICK & TEAL

How you respond to these challenges is up to you, but remember, there's prizes up for grabs! See the origial challenge post for full details.

We have had a lot of trouble with Mr Linky, so for now, please just leave a comment with a link to your entry.

December website competition

2009-01-27T12:22:00.006Z

What with my annual leave and the Graphicus sale I'm a bit late in getting the December competition entries up, but here they are finally!

As you know, we have a new method for this year's entries, which you can read all about in this post.

Below are all the entries for the December website artwork competition. Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 2nd February and will announce the winner on 3rd February.

Have fun!
Carrie

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

Entry 8

Entry 9

January Sale!

2009-01-22T10:51:00.006Z

We have an amazing January sale over on the Graphicus website, where you will find huge savings on Elusive Images rubber stamps, scrapbooking papers, glitters, brag bags, templates, Glimmer Chips, Stampbord blocks and more.

We also have a lot of items that we only have ONE in stock of, so instead of putting them on the main website, we are putting them here on the blog as you will need to phone the Graphicus office on 01833 695958 during office hours to order them. We will try to keep the items on this blog updated as often as we can!

Wendy Stenton Templates:

WS-SHOE Wendy Stenton Shoe Card Template £1.75 (was £3.50)
WS-SMALLARCH Wendy Stenton Small Arch Template £1.87 (was £3.75)
WS-LARGESTAR Wendy Stenton Large Star Pop Out Template £2.22 (was £4.45)
WS-CRACKER Wendy Stenton Cracker Template £1.87 (was £3.75)
Wendy Stenton ATC Holder £1.87 (was £3.75)
WS-LARGETEDDY Wendy Stenton Large Teddy Pop Out £2.22(was £4.45)
Wendy Stenton Mini Carrier Template £2.82 (was £5.65)
Wendy Stenton ATC Sheet £2.32 (was £4.65)
WS-SMALLHEART Wendy Stenton Small Heart Pop Out £1.87 (was £3.75)
Wendy Stenton Large Oval Pop Out Template £2.22 (was £4.45)
Wendy Stenton Large Heart Pop Out Template £2.22 (was £4.45)

Rollagraph Wheels and Accessories:

26083 Joy Dots Rollagraph Wheel £2.49 (was £5.49)
26019 Prickly Chips Rollagraph Wheel £2.49 (was £5.49)
26084 Sprouts Rollagraph Wheel £2.49 (was £5.49)
26015 Nuevo Cacti Rollagraph Wheel £2.49 (was £5.49)
12012 Rollagraph Polymer Clay Trays for StamPress £2.47 (was £4.95)

Other items:

BC5/5A6EMBPRLWH Embossed Pearl White 5 A6 cards and envelopes £1.35
BC5/5SQEMBPRLWH Embossed Pearl White 5 Square cards and envelopes £1.25
SFGLITTER24 Sticky Fingers Glitter Holographic Gold £1.37 (was £2.74)
SFGLITTER7 Sticky Fingers Glitter Hot Pink £1.25 (was £2.50)

Remember, it's first come, first served on these items, please call the Graphicus office on 01833 695958 to order.

January Challenge Auto Links

2009-01-18T14:58:00.008Z

I'm experimenting with something that I've seen on other blogs. This is basically a system which makes it much easier for you to submit your challenge entries by simply putting your name and the link to your blog page/photo album where your entry is.

So, what you need to do, is go to the entry on your own blog where your challenge is (don't link just to your blog's main page, as people could be looking at this later and the challenge entry might not show up).

Go to the address bar and highlight the URL (that's the bit that starts with http://). Copy the whole address (CTRL C)

In the Mister Linky widget below enter your name, then paste the address you just copied into the URL box (CTRL V).

Click on the enter button and you're done. Simple and your link then shows up straight away here on the blog, and it's a link so people can click straight through to your blog and see the challenge entry.

[edited Jan 20th] A couple of people have told me they can't see the Mr Linky box here, just a blank space where it should be. If you can't see it either, could you leave me a comment below and tell me if you're using Internet Exlorer, Firefox, AOL or some other browser. I honestly don't know why it's not visible to some people, I've followed the instructions to the letter and it's working fine for me and several people who have already added their names to it - weird huh?

If you want to play in the challenge and you can't see Mr Linky, then just leave a comment with the link to your challenge photo.

Glenda

January Challenge

2009-01-02T00:03:00.006Z

Let's kick off the first challenge with a bit of champagne - this month's theme is

CELEBRATE

And the colour scheme is

PLUM & GOLD

How you respond to these challenges is up to you, but remember, there's prizes up for grabs! See the previous post for full details.

Have fun with it!

New Monthly Challenge - with prizes!

2009-01-01T07:51:00.007Z

MONTHLY CHALLENGE INFORMATION

Theme & Scheme

Starting in January 2009, we are issuing a monthly theme and a colour scheme challenge.

We would love to see how you respond to our challenge and each month we will give away a gift voucher to one lucky winner who features Graphicus products in their challenge entry.

How does it work?

Challenges are a great way to stimulate you to try something new, or simply an excuse to get your toys out of the box and play! For the last year, we have been encouraging you to submit your artwork to us to win prizes, but now we are asking you to rise to the challenge of working to a specific theme or colour scheme.

This may sound restrictive, but as many challenge junkies out there will tell you, having boundaries often stimulates your creativity as it takes away one of the hardest parts of the creative process - knowing where to begin.

I decided to set up a twin challenges of a theme and a colour scheme, to give you lots of options and plenty of creative freedom. If the theme doesn't appeal, you can play along with the colour scheme challenge using your own choice of theme. Or you may have a great idea for the theme, but your idea doesn't fit the colour scheme, so you're free to choose your own colours.

If you want to you can combine the two, or you can treat them as separate challenges and create two separate pieces of artwork. Either way, we hope that they stimulate you to try something new.

When are the themes released?

We will announce the monthly theme and colour scheme here on this blog on the first day of the month and all entries must be submitted by the last day of that month. Winners will be announced by the 15th of the month following submission.

How do I win a prize?

To be considered for a prize, your entry needs to feature products available from Graphicus. I don't want to be restrictive about what you can and can't use, but people looking at the winning artwork will expect to be able to find the main featured items on the Graphicus website. That gives you lots of scope because as well as our own brands (Elusive Images and Artylicious), Graphicus stocks products from a huge range other companies.

How do I submit my entry?

1. If you have a blog:

put a photo of your challenge entry on your blog, then leave a comment on this blog, on the entry where the challenge was announced with a link to the right place on your own blog where people can see your entry.

That way, our blog readers will be able to read the challenge details, then go straight to all the challenge submissions via the comments.

2. If you don't have a blog, but you have an online album such as Picasa, Flickr, Picture Trail, etc,

leave a comment on this blog, on the entry where the challenge was announced with a link to the photo in your online album

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CHALLENGE LINK ON THIS POST. This information will be referred to throughout the year, each month when a new challenge is announced and if you put your comment on this post, it may get missed when we are judging the winner.

3. If you can't do it online

you can send your original artwork to us at Graphicus (address below). If you don't include return packaging and postage, then you agree that we can keep the artwork and use it for display and marketing purposes.

Simply send your artwork, using Graphicus products, to

Graphicus Limited
Unit 5, Carrosserie House
Harmire Enterprise Park
Barnard Castle
Co Durham
DL12 8XT

Winners

The winner will be chosen by Graphicus staff and our choice is final. In order for this to work, we can no longer accept anonymous comments on the blog, so you will need to register with Blogger, have a Google account, or have a valid Open ID to be able to leave a comment.

Winners will be announced on the blog during the month following the challenge and asked to get in touch with their contact details.

Graphicus Guild Members

Members of the Graphicus Guild will receive notice of themes in the monthly Guild newsletter and the same theme and scheme will apply to the monthly Guild ATC swap.

Suggest a theme or scheme

If you have a great idea for a challenge theme or colour scheme, leave us a comment with your suggestion and if we use your theme, we will give you a namecheck and link to your blog if you have one.

Any Questions?

I hope I've explained everything, but if you have any questions about this, please leave a comment here and I will do my best to answer your queries.

November website winner

2008-12-17T12:11:00.002Z

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the November website winner.

I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 3, which was made by:

Janet Chappell

Congratulations Janet! Your voucher is on its way to you today.

31st December is the last day for December artwork entries, so if you would like to enter your artwork for the competition, then all the details are on the right of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Carrie

November website competition

2008-12-04T14:47:00.004Z

Below are all the entries for the November website artwork competition. If your entry was received after 30 November, it will be included in the December competition.

Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 16th December, and will announce the winner on the 17th December.

The closing date for the December competition is 31 December 2008. All the details are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Have fun!
Carrie

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

Entry 8

Entry 9

Entry 10

new on the website...

2008-11-27T16:49:00.003Z

There have been so many new website items over the last few weeks, it's hard to know where to start!

I'm sure you have all by now seen our beautiful Nature and Faery stamps, which all co-ordinate perfectly together.

We have many wonderful new products from K&Co, my favourite has to be the Swell Noel Paper Crafting Village:

More K&Co:

There are some fun new chipboard albums from Maya Road, including this great bird album:

Plus you'll find some great co-ordinating chipboard pieces online too.

There are some fun chipboard houses, one of which Glenda has decorated here - go and have a look - it's amazing!

And last, but certainly not least, the latest Glimmer Mist set, Winter Wonder

Enjoy!

Carrie

October website winner

2008-11-19T10:36:00.002Z

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the October website winner.

I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 7, which was made by:

Jenny Griffiths

Jenny told us how she made the card:

Firstly I stamped the owl - from the Wise Owl Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate - using a black ink pad I then embossed the image, I used coloured pencils to colour him in, then masked him off, I followed that by masking on top of this with a round piece of paper to make the moon using a brayer. To make the background I used torn pieces of paper & the brayer using Adirondack dye ink pads in blue & green. I stamped a tree in this background with a black ink pad, next I took a sponge & added black ink around the edge, lastly taking a brown ink pad I inked up a swirl stamp & used this as a branch for Mr owl to sit on. I used cream & dark blue card to mount him onto a square card.

Thank you, Jenny and congratulations! Your voucher is on its way to you today.

Sunday 30th November is the last day for November artwork entries, so if you would like to enter your artwork for the October competition, then all the details are on the right of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Carrie

October website competition

2008-11-05T12:55:00.006Z

Below are all the entries for the October website artwork competition.

Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 18th November, and will announce the winner on the 19th November.

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for November - closing date is 30 November 2008. All the details are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Have fun!
Carrie

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

Waxing Lyrical

2008-11-02T13:46:00.015Z

No, this isn't or wasn't a mammoth leg waxing event to music! It was another of our fab autumn/winter workshops.

Yesterday, seven soul sisters got together for a fantastic six hours of splishing, splashing, daubing, spritzing, swiping and swooshing with paint, inks, pastels, crayons, pens, hot wax and a whole load of blingy bits. It was great fun with everyone really getting into Picasso mode and groovin' along to 'Born to be Wild'!

We should have been eight but circumstances prevented Kathleen from being with us.... we really missed you Kath! Next time, fingers crossed.

Here's a look at the amazing canvases this talented bunch of girls created....

Jill's Beautiful 'Bliss'

Jo's Wonderful 'Wings'

Lesley's Lustful 'Lace' and Fanciful 'Friend'

Joe's 'French Fancy'

Moira's 'Mind' Games

I only got one photo of Moira's canvas.... she is going to finish it at home so look out for further updates on it's progress.

Judith's 'Voyage' into 'Exploring Art'

And finally, my 'Blooming' Blossoms

..... another work in progress, to be finished soon!

Happy Crafting!
Lynn

September website winner

2008-10-29T11:14:00.003Z

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the September website winner.

I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 2, which was made by:

Jenny Griffiths

Jenny told us how she made the card:
The Cuttlebug embossing folder was used for the background, then wiped over with a blue chalk ink pad, then sanded. The snowman of course came from the Snow is Falling plate, for his background I used the icicles glimmer screen & sprayed with blue tones of glimmer mists, the touch of colour I used felt tips. Finished it off with a domino sprayed in the same glimmer mists colours & stamp the words with a stazon blue & a blue strip of paper & some beautiful sparkly ribbon on top down the side.
Thank you, Jenny and congratulations! Your voucher is on its way to you today.

Friday 31st October is the last day for October artwork entries, so if you would like to enter your artwork for the October competition, then all the details are on the right of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Carrie

September website competition

2008-10-14T14:50:00.004+01:00

Below are all the entries for the September website artwork competition.

Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 28th October, and will announce the winner on the 29th October.

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for October - closing date is 31 October 2008. All the details are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Have fun!
Carrie

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

jewellery workshop

2008-10-14T11:09:00.009+01:00

On Saturday, Judith led a fantastic jewellery workshop, so I thought I'd post some pictures of the day here.

Judith showed us how to shape the wire to make the celtic knots that were the main part of the jewellery pieces, make loops, attach beads, jump rings and findings and then we were let loose with our imaginations!

Here are some of the jewellery pieces being modelled:

And here are all the wonderful pieces of jewellery that were made during the day:

If this has whet your appetite and you would like to register your interest to go on a future jewellery workshop, then either call us on 01833 695958 or email info@graphicus.co.uk.

There are plenty more fun workshops in our autumn workshop calendar, come and join us for a creative day out.

Carrie

Winter Glimmer with Glenda

2008-10-07T18:50:00.003+01:00

I've just heard from Glenda who's on her way back from Peterborough where she's been filming the new Glimmer Mist show. Everything has gone well and from what she's been telling me, I for one, can't wait to see the new show. It's packed with tutorials, hints, tips and of course - some really fab products.

Its premier showing is scheduled for the 16th of October, 2008. I will let you know the time slot as soon as we have it.

Just on another topic all together, if you've been trying to access the Graphicus website and are experiencing difficulties, we do apologise. The site went down this afternoon and has been unavailable ever since. We have technicians working on the problem and hope that normal service will be resumed as quickly as possible.

If you're desperate to order something you can ring on 01833 695958 or email to info@graphicus.co.uk the office is manned between 0900 and 1700 and there's an out-of-hours answer phone if you're really really desperate!!!

Happy Crafting!
Lynn

autumn/winter workshop timetable

2008-10-07T11:04:00.003+01:00

The new Graphicus autumn/winter workshop timetable has been announced, please visit our workshop timetable page for a full list and information. Come and learn about jewellery making, Grungeboard, Glimmer Mists, Cuttlebug, Cricut Design Studio and much more. We look forward to seeing you!

Carrie

August website winner

2008-09-30T09:56:00.002+01:00

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the August website winner.

I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 12, which was made by:

Anne Ray

Anne used the Ruby Tuesday stamps, painted with interference watercolours, on a background sprayed with Glimmer Mists. Congratulations, Anne!

Today is the last day for September artwork entries, so if you would like to enter your artwork for the September competition, then all the details are on the right of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Carrie

Free Gift with every £10 spent!

2008-09-12T22:17:00.005+01:00

We are running a special promotion between now and Christmas 2008 - for every £10 you spend on the Graphicus website, we are giving you a mystery free gift!

So if you spend £30 you get three free gifts and if you spend £100 you get ten free gifts! It is triggered by a complete £10 spend, so if you spend £29.99, it will only trigger two free gifts. Postage is not included in the calculation.

It's a complete surprise and you may get more than one of the same item, but we do try to make sure if you are entitled to more than one, that they are different.

Free gifts are yours to do with what you will, but they cannot be exchanged or returned and we cannot tell you in advance what you are going to get.

(Trade customers - please note, we are running something similar for you too, details will be sent out in our next trade newsletter!)

August website competition

2008-09-10T14:45:00.006+01:00

Below are all the entries for the August website artwork competition.

Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 24th September, and will announce the winner on the 25th September.

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for September - closing date is 30 September 2008. All the details are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Have fun!
Carrie

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

Entry 8

Entry 9

Entry 10

Entry 11

Entry 12

July website winner

2008-08-27T11:48:00.004+01:00

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the July website winner.

I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 3, which was made by:

Jane Norwood

Jane used the Artylicious Season's Greetings CD-ROM for the background paper - and as Jane came to a workshop here at Graphicus, she also used a sneak preview of the Graphicus Guild stamp for August. Congratulations, Jane!

You can see more of Jane's work on her blog, Ink Stain Survivor!

There are still a couple more days left in August, so if you would like to enter your artwork for the August competition, then all the details are on the right of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Carrie

July website competition

2008-08-12T10:51:00.003+01:00

Below are all the entries for the July website artwork competition.

Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 26th August, and will announce the winner on the 27th August.

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for August. All the details are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Have fun!
Carrie

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

new website items

2008-07-31T21:05:00.002+01:00

Plenty of lovely new items on the website today.

Elusive Images rubber stamps:

Luscious new inkpads - Adirondack fans will love their pigment inkpads, and I love the zingy colours in the new Memento range from Tsukineko:

More grunge from Tim Holtz:

And there's more!

Enjoy!

Carrie

new website items

2008-07-23T16:35:00.005+01:00

There have been *loads* of website updates recently, so it's about time I gave you a handy list of what's been going online.

We'll start off with the fabulous new range of Elusive Images Christmas themeplates, which Glenda and Lynn demonstrated on Ideal World this morning:

The Design-A-Flower and Design-A-Tree themeplates have been extremely popular:

And that's not all of our new themeplates! We have some fabulous word themeplates too:

And if you love those words, we have a pack of gold foiled A4 sheets featuring words from the sets:

Foiled Words

which you can see in action on Glenda's blog.

For those of you who love ATCs, we have plenty of new ATC accessories to keep you going:

Packs of blank ATC cards ready for you to decorate
ATC Display Bags
ATC Vellum Envelope Kit
ATC 9 Pocket Storage Sleeves

And don't forget our fabulous ATC Art themeplate. Did you know that we have a monthly ATC swap exclusively for Graphicus Guild members?

We have lots of great new storage solutions, plenty of new Rollagraph wheels, and a lovely stipple brush to use with all your Glimmer Screens and Heidi Swapp Masks. The Magi-Tac and Stencil Tape are great for using with your stencils too.

And finally, we have the Fingerguard Paper Trimmer and blades in stock, some fun Circle Cards and these very cute Clipboard Combos.

Have fun crafting!

Carrie

June website winner

2008-07-23T10:35:00.004+01:00

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the June website winner. Well, it was a close run thing between our winner and the runner up, so I shall give an honorable mention to entry number 2, Laura Liddell, with her beautiful brag bag.

I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 1, which was made by:

Jane Norwood

Congratulations, Jane! I will be back in the office next week, so I will send your gift voucher out to you then.

There are still a couple more days left in July, so if you would like to enter your artwork for the July competition, then all the details are on the right of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Carrie

June website competition

2008-07-08T13:00:00.006+01:00

Below are all the entries for the June website artwork competition.

Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 22nd July, and will announce the winner on the 23rd July.

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for July. All the details are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Have fun!
Carrie

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

May Website Winner

2008-06-24T11:47:00.002+01:00

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the May website winner. I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 1, which was made by:

Rowena Hall

Congratulations, Rowena! Your gift voucher is going out to you today.

There are still a couple more days left in June, so if you would like to enter your artwork for the June competition, then all the details are on the right of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Carrie

New Flowers and Grungeboard Basics

2008-06-19T14:57:00.004+01:00

The 06th and 07th of June were open days here at Graphicus and with five demonstrators all working with different products and techniques it proved to be a real fun event.

We had lots of visitors, some were local customers who give us great support by popping into the shop on a regular basis and other were people who normally only get to shop with us by means of the website or the mail order side of the business due to their location throughout the UK. Either way, we're very grateful to all of you for visiting and shopping by whatever means you favour.

The open days are extremely important to us as it gives us the opportunity to see the faces that belong to the names we know so well but hardly ever get to meet. It's also a great opportunity for us to be able to show off the products we stock and show you other ways to use them that you may not have tried before.

So if there's something you know we stock or would like us to look at for the future and would like to see these products demonstrated at one of our open days, leave a comment on the blog and we'll see what we can do.

One of our visitors to the last event travelled all the way from the West Midlands to be with us for the day and has requested that we put photos on the blog of the Grungeboard Flowers I was making with our brand new A4 themeplates: Ruby Tuesday UA4SP0191 and Diamante Delights UA4SP0192. So how can I turn down the opportunity to show off such fab new stamps?

I used the Grungeboard Basics pack which contains sheets of plain grungeboard and Distressed Inks, a selection of Elusive Images and Impression Obsession stamps, Sakura pens for adding decorative elements and some touches of Stickles Glitter.

Grungeboard is great fun and a fabulous way of making your cards and artwork look different. It is quite unique and you really can do an enormous amount with it. Give it a go!

Happy Crafting!
Lynn

Update: I have at long last, managed to update my own blog and if you like the look of the Grungeboard Flowers, leave me a message on InkyArtitude and I'll publish some more photo's featuring Grungeboard Tags and Flowers on my blog.

Coming to a Screen Near You.... SOON!

2008-06-12T16:15:00.004+01:00

I've just heard from Glenda who is on her way back from the TV Studio in Peterborough where she's been filming our NEW Glimmer Mists show.

I have a date and time for the first showing so get out your little black book, set those Sky Plus machines, DVD's and Video recorders and get ready to have some fun! The first show will hit your screen on Sunday 29th June at 5 p.m. on the Create and Craft Channel (I can't wait..... I love Glimmer Mists, the stamps on this show are really fab and the embossing powders are just gorgeous) oops, must stop drooling all over my T Shirt!

I'm sure that Glenda will have more to tell you about her adventures when she gets back so keep an eye on her blog.

For anyone who hasn't yet managed to catch the Stampbord Show with Glenda or who wants to record it - here's your chance. It is scheduled to be shown on Saturday 28th June at 11 a.m. on the Create and Craft Channel.

You'll find Create and Craft on Sky Digital - Channel 661.

That's all for now folks. Back soon..........

May website competition

2008-06-10T12:16:00.010+01:00

Below are all the entries for the May website artwork competition.

Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 23rd June, and will announce the winner on the 24th June.

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for June. All the details are on the right hand side of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Have fun!
Carrie

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

Entry 8

Entry 9

Entry 10

Free Postage alert, pass it on!

2008-05-29T17:00:00.002+01:00

This is just a heads up to let you know that as it's my birthday this weekend, I'm giving you all a bit of a birthday treat. From tomorrow until 30th June, we are doing free UK delivery on all orders (subject to a minimum spend of £15.00).

So pass it on and let your friends know. If you have signed up to our email newsletter, you may find some other bargains dropping through your inbox as well. You can sign up on the home page of the Graphicus website.

Glenda

April website winner

2008-05-28T09:48:00.002+01:00

Many thanks to everyone who voted for the April website winner. I'm pleased to announce that the winner was entry number 8, which was made by:

Veronica Pell

Congratulations, Veronica! I will be back in the office on Wednesday next week, so I shall send out your gift voucher to you then.

There are still a couple more days left in May, so if you would like to enter your artwork for the May competition, then all the details are on the right of the blog, under "Win Graphicus Goodies".

Carrie

April website artwork competition

2008-05-13T15:09:00.005+01:00

Below you will find all the entries for April's website artwork competition. From now on we've decided to let you have the vote as to who wins, so that you can see all the lovely artwork we get sent each month.

Simply scroll through the entries below, and when you have chosen your favourite, please vote for it using the poll over on the right hand side of the blog. We will leave the poll open until 27th May, and will announce the winner on the 28th May.

Have fun!

Entry 1

Entry 2

Entry 3

Entry 4

Entry 5

Entry 6

Entry 7

Entry 8

Entry 9

Entry 10

new on the website

2008-05-08T13:10:00.002+01:00

It's been a while since I posted an update on new website items, so here's news of some new items to add to your craft stash!

Enjoy!

Carrie

March website winner

2008-04-30T12:26:00.002+01:00

Announcing March's website winner, Shirley Chalmers!

Shirley used the Wild Meadow themeplate to create this lovely card.

If you would like the chance to earn a Graphicus gift voucher then all the details are over on the right hand side of this blog under "Win Graphicus Goodies". Have fun, and we look forward to seeing your artwork!

Special Offers section

2008-04-17T07:21:00.005+01:00

The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted something new on the Graphicus website ...

We have added a special offer section!

There isn't a huge amount in there at the moment, but there is one rather amazing, super duper, zing-a-ling offer on there at the moment ... go on, check it out, you know you want to. And don't forget to tell your friends. And don't forget to check back as we quietly sneak more things in there ...

Glenda

Graphicus Open Day today - weather fine!

2008-04-05T10:17:00.004+01:00

Just a quick note to say if you were thinking about coming to visit us for our Open Day today and were wondering about the weather - it's fine! There is snow on the hills, but the town and roads are fine.

We had a great day yesterday and look forward to seeing you today. Don't forget, we have our Afternoon Tea with PSP (see www.pspeur.org) at 3pm today - come and join us for crafting and cake! We'd love to see you.

Dove of the East

2008-03-20T15:51:00.002Z

We have some gorgeous new charms and rub-ons from Dove of the East on the website, inspired by China, Japan, India and Russia. I for one love these book lockets:

from the Russia Journey collection and the elephant heart charms:

from the India Journey collection.

What will your favourites be?

Enjoy!
Carrie

workshops announced

2008-03-19T16:21:00.002Z

Our new workshop timetable for spring through to summer has been announced. You can find all the details on our workshop page. We have workshops on Stampbord, the Cricut, Glimmer Mists, Ten Seconds Studio and more - as well as a special evening event that you shouldn't miss out on!

Enjoy!

Carrie

Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks

2008-03-18T16:55:00.002Z

Just a quick note to let you know that Tim Holtz's Alcohol Inks and Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Mixatives are now available to buy as indiviual bottles on the website.

Enjoy!

Carrie

FREE UK P&P THIS WEEKEND!

2008-03-13T19:58:00.003Z

Crafters all over the country are heading down to the NEC this weekend for the Hobbycrafts show, including our very own Lynn who is demonstrating Elusive Images stamps for Joanna Sheen. However if you can't make it to Hobbycrafts (or you can't find what you want there) then why not have a browse round our online shop - we are offering free UK delivery from Thursday 13th March until the morning of Monday 17th March.

Happy shopping!

Glenda

website winners

2008-03-13T10:12:00.002Z

Our apologies for being so late with the website winners so far this year, the run up to the trade show had us all ultra busy. We have had lots of great entries over the past two months, we've all really enjoyed seeing your artwork. We got all the artwork together and the whole office had a vote on Tuesday and I'm please to announce our January and February 08 website winners today!

January Website Winner - Jak Heath

February Website Winner - Chris Dean

Both of our winners used the Peacock Glory themeplate to create their wonderful cards, and used the themeplate in very different ways.

Congratulations to you both! Your gift vouchers will be in the post to you next week when I am back in the office.

If you would like the chance to earn a Graphicus gift voucher then all the details are over on the right hand side of this blog under "Win Graphicus Goodies". Have fun, and we look forward to seeing your artwork!

Carrie

Normal Service...

2008-03-12T15:23:00.004Z

...has been resumed on the Graphicus and Elusive Images websites. Apparently our brief disappearance from the Internet was due to some kind of network problem in a data centre somewhere. We don't know whether it was fixed by superhuman efforts on the part of some dedicated support engineer or just by the computers deciding that they had sulked for long enough and were prepared to start speaking to everyone again, but we're glad to be back!

Temporary Glitch - bear with us

2008-03-12T08:15:00.001Z

We seem to have a slight problem with our web server which means the Graphicus and Elusive Images websites are temporarily off the air.

Rest assured, we are doing everything possible to get this sorted and get back to normal.

Adrian - pedal harder ....!

Glenda's Show - Ideal World

2008-03-07T12:39:00.008Z

Hi

Just had a phone call from Glenda, hot from her show on Ideal World, it has done so well that we are extending the offer on the bumper pack, which consists of three DL themeplates, All of a Twitter, Flora Bella and Sketchy Alphabet for this weekend only.

The themeplates will be pre-mounted on Kling and the price is £24.99 the code you need to quote is IW0703.

You can order on line by placing this code in the comments box or give us a call on our order hotline 0800 7832243 and we can take your order for you.

Enjoy.

Judith

Congratulations - we have a winner!

2008-03-04T23:11:00.003Z

It's time to select a winner of the ATC, All a Twitter, FloraBella and Sketchy Alphabet stamps....

I have just got out the random number generator and asked it to give me a winner and it selected comment number five - that's Veronica! Whoop whoop - congratulations Veronica you are a WINNER!

Please can you get in touch and we will sort out your prize!

Glenda

Graphicus Birthday Celebrations 4th-5th April

2008-02-29T07:32:00.003Z

On Friday April 4th and Saturday April 5th 2008, we are celebrating the 8th birthday of the company, plus our first anniversary in our new premises.

The shop is open at 10.00am, with demonstrations starting at 12pm on Friday and running through to 6pm. On Saturday, we open at 10.00am with demos running all day through to 4.00pm when we close.

Our open days are always fun and a great way to see lots of different techniques demonstrated while mixing and chatting with like-minded crafters. Then there's the shopping! We will have new products from all over the globe and some amazing Birthday special offers to ease the burden on the plastic!

As well as several demonstrators showing you lots of different things, we will have spot prizes, giveaways, a free grab bag for every visitor, refreshments and lots more!

Hope you can make it!
Glenda

new website items

2008-02-28T12:52:00.004Z

Yes, it's what you've all been waiting for! The new stamps are all on the Graphicus website and are just waiting to join you in their new homes!

Here's a full list of new items that have gone up on the website this week:

Wild Meadow Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate
Peacock Ladies Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate
ATC Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate
All of a Twitter Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate
Flora Bella Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate
Sketchy Alphabet Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate
Sakura pens - and there's more of these to come next week...
Woodware brads
Bazzill Brads
Swirly Clips

Enjoy!

Carrie

TV show date changed

2008-02-26T23:29:00.002Z

Just a quick note tonight to let you all know the date of the ATC themed TV show has been moved to Friday March 7th at 11.00am.

I will still do the prize draw on Monday 3rd as planned.

ATC TV Show - win new stamps

2008-02-24T07:58:00.005Z

Here's a sneak preview of some new stamps coming up on a TV show soon. These are all designed by the talented Helen Chilton and they are all going to be featured on Ideal World on Tuesday 4th March at 11.00am.

This is All of a Twitter

and this is Flora Bella - lovely elegant doodly florals

here we have a very useful Sketchy Alphabet

and finally, an ATC themeplate stuffed with useful bits and pieces

This month's Graphicus Guild newsletter features some ATCs that I have made with these stamps:

The stamps will be going onto the Graphicus website this week, but you could win the whole set just by leaving a comment on this blog entry. That's right. The day before the TV show, Monday 3rd March, I will pick a winner at random from all the comments we receive and the lucky winner will receive all four sets of stamps!

Glenda

LAST DAY OF THE SALE

2008-02-10T19:49:00.000Z

The Graphicus sale ends at midnight (UK time) on February 11th 2008.

Our month of free UK delivery also finishes then, so you have just one day left to take advantage of the sale bargains AND the free UK delivery.

Happy shopping!

Glenda

SHOP CLOSED SAT 2ND FEBRUARY 2008

2008-02-01T15:34:00.000Z

SEVERE WEATHER AFFECTS SHOP OPENING HOURS

Due to a combination of snow and staff illness, we are unable to open the Graphicus shop on Saturday 2nd February 2008. Please accept our sincere apologies and we hope you will come along to see us when the weather is better and we are all fit and healthy again.

I hope the weather is not being too unkind to you this weekend. If you are staying indoors with your crafting stash, why not head over to the Artylicious blog and pick up a free paper download.

Stay warm!

Glenda

form an orderly queue, please...

2008-01-17T15:57:00.000Z

They're online!

Carrie

Quick note...

2008-01-17T09:17:00.001Z

Tinkabella Inks are back in stock!

Carrie

Graphicus Guild Special Prices

2008-01-16T17:52:00.000Z

Thanks Carrie for getting those new products up on the website!

Let me just tell you all that the Damask Squares and Damask Heart stamps will be featuring as the Offer of the Month in the Graphicus Guild newsletter, so they will be at a very special price of just £17.99 each.

If you don't know what the Graphicus Guild is, it is an exclusive membership club which costs £25 per year and gets you a welcome pack with a free stamp, plus a monthly newsletter full of techniques, projects, exclusive stamps, hints and tips and very special offers. You also get free UK delivery (subject to £15 minimum order). You can find out more on the Graphicus website.

Glenda

new website items

2008-01-16T17:00:00.000Z

For those of you who have been drooling over the new Damask themeplates over on Glenda's blog, you will be pleased to hear I have just added them to the website! Choose from Damask Hearts or Damask Squares, or better still, treat yourself to both, you know you want to :D

A few new items went up last week which I didn't have chance to tell you about at the time.

Tinkabella Inks - they sold out very quickly though, so they are off the website just now - I'll let you know when they're back on
Peacock Glory Unmounted A4 themeplate
Fancy Mandalas Unmouned A4 themeplate
Glenda's Glitters
Tim Holtz's Grungeboard
Tim Holtz Texture Hammer
plus all the Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists are now available to buy individually.

Coming soon - those gorgeous flowers! I'll be back to let you know as soon as they're on the website, which I'm hoping will be sometime this week.

Enjoy!

Carrie

Make it Show, Farnborough

2008-01-15T10:56:00.000Z

If you are visiting the Make-It show at Farborough this weekend, look out for The Craft Station. They have a good choice of Elusive Images stamps on their stand and their demonstrators will be demonstrating a mixture of stamps and products including EI stamps.

You can find them on stand J29 and you can find all the details of the show on the Make-It website.

Glenda

Sale now on! Half price bargains selling out fast!

2008-01-14T19:25:00.000Z

Sorry for the tabloid headline, but it's true. Our sale started on Friday and we've already had to take quite a lot of items off the website because they have sold out.

We still have some amazing bargains, but I thought it only fair to warn you that they are going so fast that you must order early or they'll be gone.

We do have more sale items going on the website next week, so do check back then.

Glenda

Graphicus shop re-fit

2008-01-12T15:46:00.000Z

For everyone who's asked, here are a few photos of the Graphicus shop after the refit. It's full of lovely goodies, as you will see!

Sale plus TV dates

2008-01-09T20:20:00.000Z

We're having a sale! Yep, there's going to be some bargains - Carrie Anne is busy loading up all the sale priced items for you. The sale starts on Friday, both on the website and in our shop.

Some of our sale items are very limited (ones and twos of items) so once they're gone, they're gone. We do our best to take stock off the website as soon as it has gone, but we do not run a live stock system on our website, so cannot guarantee that clearance items will definitely be available. You're best bet is to order early to ensure you catch the bargain.

The sale runs from January 11th until February 11th, while stocks last.

Friday is a bit of a special day for another reason. There's a new TV show out on Create and Craft called Stampbord Sensations with Glenda - a new format show with me getting some camera time without a presenter! The first show is on at 2pm this Friday, 11th Jan, but if you miss that one, the next airing is on Saturday 19th Jan at 11.00am.

And as if that wasn't enough, I will be doing a live TV show on Ideal World on Sunday 20th January at 2.pm.

Please feel free to pass on the information to your friends - all Elusive Images christmas stamps will be reduced, as will many more products!

Glenda

Graphicus Shop Re-Fit

2008-01-06T06:35:00.001Z

The Graphicus shop remains closed just a little longer as we finish the refurbishment that we started last week. We now have a purple carpet!! But as I'm sure you can imagine, getting carpet laid meant taking every single thing out of the shop, and the rest of the building is a little crowded as a result.

The carpet was laid on Saturday - a day later than originally expected - but oh, it looks so good! We have some new shelving too and the whole thing is starting to take shape. There's another couple of days work to get everything put back where we want it, but we hope to be back up and running by Thursday, ready for our SALE which starts on Friday January 11th.

That's also the same day that my new TV show launches on Create and Craft. You can see the stamps that are featured and read all about it over on the Artylicious blog.

Glenda

Awesome!

2007-12-21T01:18:00.000Z

I'm probably preaching to the converted, but for those of you who haven't found Tim Holtz's blog yet you really must take a look here http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/

This guy is really awesome, he has posted inspirational ideas and instructions over a 12 day period for the 12 Tags of Christmas.

I just love his products, they really do perform well. But I know that some people are put off because they just don't know what to do with them. Well his blog is the ideal place to take a tutorial using a great selection of products.... it's just like doing a workshop with him but you can take your time and visit again and again and hey, it's FREE!

Now I got all fired up when I saw him use his brand new product Grungeboard and his Texture Hammer and I came steaming in to work and begged Glenda to air freight them in from the USA. Can you imagine how ecstatic I was when she told me to get it sorted? Well I was making a list, checking it twice and before I knew it, it's here. It was just like Santa had called on us early on Wednesday when the stock arrived. Whoopeee! Needless to say, I've spent my Christmas money already and I left work with copious amounts of goodies tucked safely away in the boot of my car.

We have many of the products in stock that Tim uses in his Christmas Tag projects: there's Distressed Ink Pads and little bottles of Re-Inker, Ink Blending Tools and packs of Foam Pads, Mini-Misters, Paint Dabbers, Crackle Paint, Alcohol Inks and Metallic Mixatives, applicators and blending solution, Craft Sheets, Glossy Accents, Stickles, Distressed Embossing Powder and of course the all important Grungeboard and Fragments.

In addition, we have supplies of Clear Embossing Powder, Glossy Card and our own packs of Tags which come in a choice of White, Cream or Buff and are really great value.

Not everything mentioned above is on the website yet but if you want it, give us a ring and we'll be more than happy to help you out. Don't wait too long though, these items are HOT! and some are already in short supply.

Oh! By the way, if you visit his blog check out the October archives and have a look at his home studio...... and drool - I did!

"Hey Santa! Can I have one of those too.........................? What do you mean, it won't fit in your sack"?

A Happy Christmas to all, and to all, a Good Night!
Lynn

nyum nyum ...

2007-12-20T21:11:00.000Z

Check out these tags over on my Artylicious blog!

Grungeboard Details

2007-12-19T16:46:00.000Z

We have the following Grungeboard in stock right now! Stock of elements is very limited - we're expecting more in January, but our supplier can't say when.

Alphabets - £17.99

Plain

Harlequin

Dots

Swirl

Stripe

Digits & Punctuation - £13.99

Plain
Harlequin
Dots
Swirl
Stripe

Elements - only four left - £7.99

Dots

We also have

Texture Hammer - £12.99

Foam blending tool - £4.29

Replacement foam pads for blending tool £4.29
Fragments - £6.99

We are open and will continue shipping until 5pm Friday 21st December. These items are not yet on the website, but you can order them on our freephone order hotline - 0800 783 22 43. If you call outside office hours, just leave your name and number and we'll call you back when we can.

If you are ordering other things online and you want to add any of the above items to your order, you can put it in the comments box or you can email us the details with your order confirmation number.

Well, I'm off home clutching a packet of Grungeboard swirl alphabets and I've programmed the SatNav with directions to Tim's Blog so I can have a play. Who needs to clean the spare room - I'm sure Mum won't mind dustbunnies and cobwebs when she sees my artistic creations ...

Glenda

Grungeboard on the way ...

2007-12-18T16:26:00.000Z

We've just had notification that the shipment containing Grungeboard will be here this week - yay!

We're not entirely sure what will be in the box as we ordered EVERYTHING and they are already out of stock of some items. As soon as we've clawed our way through the packaging, I will put a list of all the items here on the blog and we'll be taking orders immediately, with a view to getting it out straight away to anyone who orders so you have it to play with over your Christmas break.

It will probably be Thursday, but we should be able to process orders and get them out same day. Watch this space for more info ...

Glenda

The fundraising goes on ...

2007-12-13T07:47:00.001Z

I'm seriously considering getting into the blackmail game. You see I have these dodgy photos and I reckon certain people would probably pay well to prevent me publishing them on the web. I'd give the money to charity of course, I'm not totally corrupt!

But there's just one slight problem with that, one of the people I'd have to blackmail would be me and I'd just say publish and be damned.

So here goes ...

Our Children in Need charity scrapbooking crop was presided over by Great Uncle Bulgaria.

And introducing our cast of suspicious characters ...

Andy Pandy

The Mad Hatter

and Jenny Eclair, er no, sorry, that's Looby Lou.

Uncle Bulgaria is having a bit of a mid life crisis and he decided it was time to get a motorbike. Andy Pandy thought that was a great idea!

However, due to outdated anti-wombling legislation, wombles can't get a license for a two-wheeled motorbike, so they just had to make do with the quad bikes, generously provided by our next door neighbours, Teesdale Bike & Quad (thanks Ian!).

Looby-Lou wasn't so sure, so she thought she'd try out the little one, but a nasty fight broke out and Andy Pandy stole it back again.

Uncle Bulgaria soon put a stop to the playground squabbling by showing everyone the scrapbooking station that had been set up.

and the serious scrappers got down to business

Several people finished pages during the day and we had so much fun, we're setting up a regular crop in the New Year - more details on that will follow once we've worked out the details.

Lesley's granddaughter is a complete basket case

Glenda's Basil cat dressing up so he goes with Basic Grey Scarlett Letter

David's proof that it really was that big!

the fish! What did you think I was talking about?!

Theresa showing what beginners can do with a Cricut, turning out a stunning Christmas page

and last, but by no means least, Lynn's equally gorgeous Christmas page.

Hey, I like those papers in the background ...

So all in all, we had a fantastic and really fun day. As with most crops, half the fun is the social side of things and we all made some great new friends and I look forward to doing it all again in 2008.

So far we've raised over £500, but thanks to the generous donations of our suppliers, we still have charity stock for sale. So if you are in the vicinity of Barnard Castle, why not drop in and take a look around - you could grab a bargain and benefit a worthy cause at the same time!

Glimmer Mists now on the website

2007-12-07T07:34:00.000Z

The Glimmer Mists are now up on the website in their sets. Individual colours will also be available soon. Two colours that aren't listed on the website yet, but are available now, are Pearl and Iridescent Gold, both gorgeous final overspray layers. You'll need to order those by telephone, or if you order online, let us know in the comments box that you want those.

I spent some time last night playing, sorry, er, working with these new products. Well I need to know how they come out, don't I? Well I'm not disappointed, they are just fantabulous!

All I did was spray up some tags so I can make some swatch books and it was a real challenge to stick to one colour per tag I can tell you. I loved the Ocean Breeze set as I'm working on some samples for a new TV show coming out in January, which features peacock stamps and these colours just lend themselves perfectly. (More about that show will be over on my own blog soon, including a giveaway competition!).

When using sprays, I work with a cardboard box that is like a giant pizza box with a lid that lifts up. I think it originally had some bit of a computer in it, but it's great because the lid sits up vertically and stops any overspray going where it shouldn't. In practice, there's very little spray hits the lid as it's all water based which means gravity is pulling it down before it has chance to travel far.

Anyway, after doing the single colours, I was entranced by the colour of the kitchen towel on the bottom of the box. I like to put kitchen towel down because when I'm finished, I can use it in collage projects. It soaks up the sprays in a different way to normal cardstock, with the liquid soaking into the core and the mica pigment sitting on the textured surface giving a real metallic lustre.

We do have other spray inks in our range, such as the Adirondack Colorwash and Sticky Fingers Autumn, Summer and Fireworks collections. These will all coordinate beautifully with Glimmer Mists and extend the range of finishes you can achieve to almost infinite possibilities.

I'm off to see what Pearl looks like sprayed over Artylicious papers ...

Yum YUM!

Glenda

Glimmer Mists

2007-12-05T07:19:00.000Z

Oh boy, have we got a treat for you! We just got a huge delivery in from America - Glimmer Mists sprays are here - yay!!

These are luscious colours with lots of shimmery glimmer, just desperate to be spritzed on your next project.

To quote the manufacturer,

"Glimmer Mist was made by a scrapbooker with the scrapbooker in mind and is water-based, archival safe, acid-free, and non-toxic. Glimmer Mist is safe for and adheres to all types of materials including paper, acrylic, metal, and fabric."

We have the 2oz bottles in stock right now and they will be selling for £5.49 each, or you can choose one of our beautiful mixed packs and pay just £29.99 for six mouthwatering colours. There are eight sets altogether with no duplication of colours between sets.

We are doing everything we can to get them up on the website by the end of this week, but if you have any questions, or you can't wait that long, you can call us on 01833 695958 during office hours and we'll bore the pants off you with how much we love these ...

Glenda

Graphicus Christmas Bash 30 November and 1 December

2007-11-30T11:06:00.000Z

Come and join us for our Christmas Bash today (30 November) and tomorrow (1 December). We're in Barnard Castle, County Durham, if you're near this area, come along - you'll be made very welcome!

All the details as well as a downloadable map are on our ShopTalk page.

Glenda and Santa look forward to welcoming you!

Plenty of arty demonstrations from Glenda

And from Lynn too!

Annette is demonstrating the Cricut and the Cuttlebug

Judith will be demonstrating polymer clay

And there are plenty of Christmas nibbles too!

We look forward to seeing you!

new on the website

2007-11-28T11:26:00.000Z

The fantastic My Mind's Eye Bohemia 2 range is now online. Not only are there wonderful 12" x 12" scrapbook papers available, but each collection has an additional Mini Kit, which usually contains a title, acetate frame, journalling card and either 12 inch borders or accents. Some of the collections also have other extras such as blossoms, twill ribbon, large or small gems.

Here's a few examples from the range (click on the picture to be taken to the product page):

You Are My Sunshine Botanical/Light Orange Paper

Sweet Sisters Mini Kit

Pretty as a Princess Large Gems

Mother Blossom

Our Son Twill Ribbon

Enjoy!

new on the website

2007-11-22T15:24:00.000Z

There have been a few new items uploaded to the website this week, here's a spotlight on a few of them.

Zutter
If you are a fan of the Zutter Bind-It-All then we have the fantastic new Bag-A-Bind Tote in which you can carry your machine to crops and crafting groups. There is also the very useful Book and Journal Making Kit with all the equipment you could want when you're out and about.

K&Co
Speaking of totes, this Amy Butler Sola Scrapbook Tote is a huge hit in the Graphicus office, I think we all want one!

We also have some gorgeous new K&Co Mat Pads in stock, perfect for matting your 6" x 4" photos.

My Mind's Eye Scrapbook Papers
We have an amazing range of scrapbook papers from My Mind's Eye new in stock. There are so many to choose from, and they're all gorgeous!

We have two Christmas ranges, Festive and Frost. Just perfect for scrapping all those Christmas memories.

Dear Santa from the Festive range

Winterberry from the Frost range

We do ask for mail order that you order a minimum of 10 sheets of scrapook papers, but these 10 sheets can be mixed and matched from the entire range.

Next week I will upload the Bohemia 2 range, which not only includes papers, but journalling cards, frames, titles and borders - watch this space!

October Website Winner

2007-11-15T11:49:00.000Z

Congratulations to Sue Rimmington who is our website artwork winner for October. Sue made this absolutely stunning card, which opens up into four sections. We love it! Sue wins a £25 Graphicus voucher, which is on its way to you today, Sue.

Calling all Scrappers - we need you!

2007-10-29T10:09:00.000Z

Charity Crop Children In Need
Friday November 16th 11.00am-9.00pm
Come and Play!

Calling all Scrappers ... we need you and your time and creativity to make lots of money for Children in Need !!!

We are hosting a wonderful scrapbooking crop on behalf of Children In Need on Friday 16th of November and we need your support.

In return we will offer ideas, inspiration, gossip and even organise a bit of late night supper – pizza, pop, crop and shop! – for the hardcore night croppers. Plus a free Graphicus Goody Bag for all participants (which includes a page kit designed by myself and Lynn) and digital scrappers who bring their laptops along to play will get a digital Artylicious freebie from me.

For a flat rate of just £15 (with £10 of this going to charity) our doors will be open from 11am to 9pm for an all day crop and scrappers can stay as long as they like. Participants should bring their own basic craft kit with their favourite scrapping tools and of course, layouts to work on.

A cropping station will be set up which will include Cricut and Cricut Expression machines (plus cartridges) Cuttlebug, Wizard and QuicKutz machines plus dies and embossing folders. We also have a large format Pazzles computer controlled cutting machine for custom cuts and an A3 printer and photocopier. Our shop will also have page kits available for purchase.

Our fabulous crop is open to beginners and experienced scrappers so come along and have a really fun day out and help us make lots of money for Children in Need.

The crop runs from 11.00am through to 9.00pm. You can come for the whole day or just drop in for however long you fancy. To guarantee a place, you do need to book which you can do by calling the office on 01833 695958, or send us an email to info@graphicus.co.uk.

Looking forward to seeing you soon

Glenda and the team

A few more days to win!

2007-10-28T10:53:00.000Z

Don't forget you have until the end of October to submit your artwork for this month's regular contest, plus you can win the new Christmas Fusion rubber stamps by leaving a comment on the Christmas Fusion post.

The postal system seems to be pretty much back to normal, but you can send us a photo or link to your artwork - the only stipulation is that you need to use products that other viewers can easily find on the Graphicus website.

Glenda

Christmas Fusion - Giveaway!

2007-10-15T23:49:00.000+01:00

I don't often do cute, but I am really pleased with the way this little tag turned out. I used masking paper to mask off two hills at the bottom, then used cats eye pigment inkpads to create the sky. I removed one of the masks and added a little soft shading to the hill furthest in the background, then removed the other mask and added another little touch of shading.

The tree was stamped in brown StazOn and coloured in with a watercolour pencil. I then used a pale green brush marker to go over the watercolour pencil - the moisture blends it, but adds a little colour too.

I stamped the reindeer in black Ancient page and coloured him in the same way - watercolour pencil first, then a brush marker. Then I took a white Sakura souffle pen and added snow to the tree and snowflakes to the sky. finally, I added a touch of Stardust Stickles to the reindeer's stars.

I like it so much, I'm contemplating making a mask for the tree so I can avoid the issue of the top and bottom being different colours. But even for me, that's a challenging tree to cut out. I do want to have another go on something just a tad larger so I don't chop his antlers off. That's gotta hurt.

For anyone who doesn't know what I mean by a mask, let me explain. You stamp an image onto another piece of paper which you can use to cover over a stamped image. The reason you do that is so that you can stamp other things over or around it and when you remove the mask, the first image you stamped will then look like it is on top of the others.

It's particularly effective with landscapes and trees. Maybe I'll have a go in the morning with fresh eyes.

Anyway, more Christmas, I hear you cry. Yes, I heard that. Well we have another Christmas TV show coming up on Sunday 4th November at 2.00pm on Ideal World. At the moment [holding my breath as these things are subject to change] they are telling us that Lynn and I can have the whole two hour show to ourselves. Woohoo! We will have the Season's Greetings CD back on, and this new stamp plate, Christmas Fusion, is our new offering for the show.

[Graphicus Guild members please note, you are getting a special offer on this plate in your first Guild newsletter!]

I've made a card with the poinsettia mandala on cream pearlescent card, and done the star in silver on pale blue. There's a real mix of things on this plate and I've found myself buzzing with ideas for all of them.

Blog Giveaway Alert...

So, who would like to get hold of this plate for free? Leave a comment between now and the end of October and we'll pull a name out of the hat and send you the above themeplate (on Kling-On) absolutely free!

September artwork winners

2007-10-02T12:56:00.000+01:00

A big thank you to everyone who entered the September artwork competition. We had such amazing entries this month, we decided to pick both a winner and a runner up.

The winner is D Wears, who sent in two cards made with our Paisley Elephant Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate and Damask Delights CD-ROM.

Congratulations, D Wears, a £50 Graphicus voucher is on its way to you!

The runner up is Ann King who made this lovely card with our Christmas Flourish Unmounted Rubber Stamp Themeplate and Damask Delights CD-ROM.

Congratulations, Ann, you will receive a £25 Graphicus voucher.

We also would like to give honorable mentions to Caroline Pendleton, Jacqueline Sweeney, Jane Norwood, Margaret Crewdson, Mariaan Lawson and Sue Rimmington who will all receive a mixed pack of Glitterati for their great entries.

If you would like to enter the October competition, all the details are at the beginning of the blog. We look forward to seeing your artwork!

We have a winner!

2007-10-01T10:05:00.001+01:00

Congratulations to Trish Bee!! Yes, you have won the Artylicious Season's Greetings CD. And having known and admired your work for a long time, I'm eager to see what you do with it. Trish, please contact us so we know where to send your prize.

Thank you to everyone who left comments, it means a lot to me to see that so many of you really like my designs.

Glenda

Last chance to win Season's Greetings!

2007-09-30T05:34:00.001+01:00

We took delivery of the Season's Greetings CD on Friday afternoon! There is just today left to be in with a chance of winning one of these babies - get a comment posted by the end of today and you'll be in the prize draw tomorrow. If you post anonymously, put your name in the comment, otherwise we have no way of knowing who you are! And of course, don't forget to check back here to see if you've won.

The CD is launched at 4pm this afternoon on Create and Craft as the pick of the week. All of you who pre-ordered the CD from us will be getting it early this week, we're putting everything else on hold to get these out before the postal strike starts on Wednesday.

NEW GRAPHICUS GUILD MEMBERS PLEASE NOTE: The Guild welcome pack will be going out in a week or so, but you can take advantage of your free postage straight away. Just tell us when you order that you are a Guild member and we'll take care of the rest. If you are ordering online, just put a note in the comments box.

Glenda

Graphicus Open Day

2007-09-20T16:02:00.000+01:00

We are celebrating Make It Month in style next week with a two day crafting extravaganza! Friday 28th and Saturday 29th September will see Graphicus hosting two days of demonstrations and this time you get to play too. There will be several fun "Make 'n' Take" tables where you can have a go at some of the products and techniques we'll be demonstrating. Perfect for absolute beginners to get a taste of what papercrafting is all about. I will be hosting the "Techniques Table" where I will be demonstrating several different things throughout each day and being filmed while I do it!

The filming will then be turned into "webisodes" on our website so that if you forget what you saw, you can watch it again at home on your computer!

For more information, visit the Shop Talk page on our website. You can also sign up to our email newsletter on the website and don't forget to tick the Graphicus Shop Events box to get special Shoptalk emails.

(If you already receive our email newsletter, you find each one has an "update your profile" link right at the very bottom.)

Oh, and one other thing, I'm actually on my way back from America where I've been attending a really interesting tradeshow - more on that later - but I thought you might be interested to know I've seen lots of exciting new goodies and managed to find space in the suitcase for some gorgeous ribbon for the shop. It will be available by the metre in the shop only (sorry webshoppers, but there is lots more on the way for you) and once it's gone, it's gone. That is, if I can bear to part with it. Hmm, there may be a metre or two missing when it goes on sale ...

Glenda

New Workshop Dates

2007-09-06T12:17:00.000+01:00

We have finalised our Winter 2007 workshop timetable and will be releasing the timetable this Saturday, 8th September.

We have two new tutors joining us this autumn for an exciting programme of classes. We have had sellout classes in the last quarter, so don't miss out this time round. In particular, we know that the Elusive Images Christmas class taught by myself and Lynn will be popular as there was a waitlist when the last one sold out.

Carrie Anne will be publishing the timetable on the website on Saturday - you need to look in the workshop section to see what's on when. Alternatively, if you go to our contact page, you can send us an email asking for the workshop brochure to be sent out to you.

Win the new Season's Greetings CD

2007-09-05T07:59:00.000+01:00

I am launching a new Artylicious Christmas CD called Season's Greetings at the end of September. There are more previews over on my Artylicious Blog for you to drool over!

It's a double CD with over 2000 printable pages on it and there is a huge range of layouts to suit cardmakers - standard card size inserts in both portrait and landscape, plus toppers that coordinate with our new Christmas stamps.

You could be one of the first people to own this CD if you enter our blogger prize draw.

All you have to do is post a comment to this blog or the Artylicious Blog telling us what you think. We'll put all the names into the hat and on the 1st October, we'll announce a winner!