{Introducing} STAMPlorations Guest Designers for October-December 2016

Hey, STAMPlorations friends! Before this inspiration-filled Tuesday comes to a close (courtesy of the amazing girls in the Inspiration team and the uber cool Becca Cruger), I'd like to welcome our first batch of talented ladies who are joining us from October to December as guest designers.

When we had the GD call in August, I expected to receive only a handful of expressions of interest. Instead, I received 70+ in total (for the CAS Cards and Theme & Sketch Challenges). That round was brimming with talent and creativity that it was difficult to narrow down my list to just 3 ladies for each challenge. I'm not one to let an opportunity pass by when I see talent I'd love to work with so I ended up being able to fill guest designer spots not just for the October-December 2016 term, but also for the next two terms (January-March 2017 and April-June 2017). Yes, I'm big on planning ahead :o)

And so I'm pleased to introduce our first batch of guest designers. You will be seeing their projects beginning October. Please give them a warm welcome. Many of you will be familiar with them. They have created beautiful projects with our products in the past and I am thrilled to have them as part of the STAMPlorations family!

CAS Card Challenge Guest Designers

CAROL MAYNE

Just Me:c

"Hello, I’m Carol (aka *~c*), waving from my small town at the edge of the scenic Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. My card-making journey began when I decided to make and send Happy *Month Old* cards to my niece, who was 2 ½ at the time. She’s now 6, my nephew is 4 - and yes, the monthly card ‘tradition’ continues. The ‘epic messes’ of my first attempts sent me searching the internet for ideas and WOW! Did I find them! The discoveries revealed sparked a passion, and here I am, thoroughly immersed in playing with paper, stamps, dies and ink. Of course, the friendships made through this warm, encouraging community are treasured immensely. I’m truly honoured and delighted to be joining Shery’s STAMPlorations family as part of the CAS Card Guest Design team for the October-December term! THANK YOU for this amazing opportunity!"

HARRIET SKELLY

Ally Cat Cards

"Hi! My name is Harriet and I live in Northern California with my DH Bruce of 35 years, our daughter Alexis and 3 awesome cats. I have been stamping and card making for about 10 years and actually started with a visit to the Mrs Grossman's sticker factory nearby in Petaluma, Ca! I decided to go onto EBay for more stickers and saw stamps and ink, etc and the rest is history! My style is CAS but I do like to try other styles and really love many different techniques - my favorite being watercoloring. I also am a knitter and currently am active in two knitting groups - we make hats and scarves for the homeless in San Francisco and chemo and baby hats for a local hospital. Come visit me at my blog, Ally Cat Cards."

STEPHANIE SEVERIN

Ingenious Inkling

"My name is Stephanie Severin, but you might know me as SmilynStef. I'm a fast and furious creator who's always on the lookout for inspiration. Nothing makes me happier than getting inky, and I try to spend at least a little time creating every day. You'll never find me without reading glasses, lip balm, dark chocolate, and lots of ice and a straw in my tall glass of water. I would describe my style as contemporary, trendy, eclectic, & ingenious ... you can find me on my blog Ingenious Inkling or my Christmas blog Jingle Belles, where we're taking back December one holiday card at a time."

Theme & Sketch Challenge Guest Designers

ELAINE PLACE

Craft-E-Place

"I live in Oxfordshire in the UK with my husband – both of my children have left home. I work as a school administrator in a local primary school, I only work during the term time (at least in paid employment!). My passion, outside of my family, is to be creative and I always have a number of projects on the go. I love card making as it is so immediate and I can fit it in when time is short. I guess I would describe my style as mostly CAS but I love to try out new techniques and am always on the look out for new ways of creating. In addition to card making and other paper crafts I love working with textiles – I love knitting, sewing, cross stitch and embroidery. I’m currently brushing up my printing skills – learning the art of lino printing, wood cuts and etching."

KATHY SCHWEINFURTH

Stamps At Play

"I’ve been married to my honey, Mark, for 21 years and we have a beautiful daughter, Danielle, who is a college sophomore. By day, I manage a meeting and event management group and every other chance I get, I’m the CEO of my craft room! Crafting of some sort or another has been a passion of mine since I was little, but then stamping found me, it was love at first inking! It’s been so amazing to see how this industry has grown and the artistic nature of the craft has exploded. To see the work of so many amazingly talented people from all over the world every day is inspiring and just plain makes me happy! I’m SO excited and honored to be a STAMPlorations Guest Designer for the next several months – thank you, Shery!"

JESSICA LIN

Jessie Handmade

"Hi! My name is Jessica and I'm 20. I grew up in Taiwan but came to California two years ago for college. I started stamping when I was 8 or 9, and have tried scrapbooking, needle felting and sewing over the past 10 years. Crafting has long been my greatest passion and stress reliever. When I'm not studying or typing up lab reports, you can always find me in my craft room creating something new (or online-shopping for more stamps :-D) I love participating in card challenges and am always inspired by the design team's fabulous work, so I'm super thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to guest design at STAMPlorations and to inspire others!"

And there you have it! 6 incredibly talented crafters joining the STAMPlorations girls until the end of the year. I'm excited to see what they'll bring to our little piece of blogland!