Welcome!

Welcome to the Designs by Ryn blog! The monthly Customer Creation Challenge can be found above in the navigation menu as well as links to my Shop, Facebook Page and Pinterest. Along the right you will find my Design Team. I hope you enjoy your visit and leave with some inspiration.

Monday, December 14, 2015

Welcome Back Ellie!

Hey everyone! I am very excited to be bringing back Ellie Knol to share some of her makes using my stamp designs. Love how she's brought these droplets to life!
In this piece she used:
Trickling Water Set from my unmounted sheet Water Effects 2
Hibiscus from my unmounted sheet Hibiscus

I'll include a link to Ellie below so that you can check out more of her art :)
Ellie's blog HERE

And now Ellie's make in her own words...

I always like the effect when working on kraft paper. It's so different from white paper. 
It's like a recipe -  a monoprint, kraft paper, and beautiful stamps.... and the only thing you have to do is mix it all together!  

LOVE these drops, and the flower? 
When I saw it the first time, I fell in love with it! 


Stamps are all from Designs by Ryn - 
thanks for letting me be guest designer again Ryn!
I enjoy it every time! 
More to come! 

Tuesday, December 01, 2015

My Holiday Gift to you...

Hey everyone,

My Holiday Gift to you...

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

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

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

November's Customer Creation Challenge Winner

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

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

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

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

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Wishing you a wonderful month of December :)

Ryn

December Customer Creation Challenge

Monday, November 02, 2015

November Sales and Challenge Winner

Hey Everyone,

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

October Customer Creation Challenge Winner...

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

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

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

November Sales!

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

Celtic Dove Set - $5.99

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

 

November CustomerCreation Challenge

Friday, October 23, 2015

Hummingbird Lightswitch

Hey everyone!

I've been enamoured by the polymer art of Tammy Baker for a couple of years now. I first ran into her on Etsy back when I maintained a little shop of my own there. She had contacted me about my deeply etched stamps for use in polymer clay. Excited to see them used in that media I jumped on the opportunity to spotlight her as a guest designer.

Since then I have invited her back a few times to create with my designs. Her application of my stamps in her art always inspires me! I recently sent her some of my new Hummingbird designs curious as to how the small details would come through when pressed into clay. The results are stunning! Every little feather is defined clearly...

Love the iridescence that she added to the birds too!
This is my unmounted sheet of Hummingbird stamps that she used. You can find it HERE in my shop.

More to come from Tammy soon! In the meantime you can visit her Etsy shop HERE. Even if you don't use polymer clay in your creations (I haven't experimented in that direction yet either) I'm sure you'll be inspired by her use of colour and texture. Feel free to message her through Etsy.

Coupon

Tammy's also been kind enough to create a coupon specially for us: RYN15

If you purchase any of her affordable art (all original one of a kind pieces) this coupon will give you 15% off at the time of checking out.

I own a couple of switch plates and loooooove them in my home! They add a little life to an otherwise dull everyday object that I come into contact with every single day. Every time I turn on a light a smile comes to my face now. I've been concentrating on downsizing lately. Part of this process has been paying attention to the things that bring me joy and getting rid of the rest of the clutter. Tammy's lightswitches are definitely staying!

Well, that's it for me for now. Thanks for stopping by and for being patient with me. I haven't been posting or designing very much lately for personal reasons. My family has been going through some big changes and I have chosen to devote my energies there. I thank you so much for supporting me so far and look forward to creating more when I can. Hopefully soon!

I hope this post brought some inspiration your way :)

Bye for now,

Ryn

Thursday, October 01, 2015

October News and Challenge Winner!

Hey everyone,

Just a quick one from me today. I've got some sales to share with you and the winner of last month's Customer Creation Challenge!

September's Challenge Winner...

BIG congratulations to Evelien Siertsema!!! Please contact me by email to receive your free cling-mounted stamp or stencil :)

Here are Evelien's makes...

Cling-mounted stamps from my collection: Leafy Branch and Rising Bubbles
Cling-mounted stamps from my collection: Silhouette Dove Set
Evelien's blog post for this HERE. Many more gorgeous cards in this post.

Cling-mounted stamps from my collection: Raindrops

Evelien's blog post for this HERE

Sales for October...

With Christmas in mind here are some cling-mounted stamps discounted by 50%. You can click on the names below each photo to go to that product on my website.

Many thanks for stopping by :)
Bye for now,
Ryn

October Customer Creation Challenge

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

September Sales and News!

Hey everyone,

Some news, sales and inspiration for September!

Customer Creation Challenge

The monthly Customer Creation Challenge is back up on my blog. Thanks for waiting. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to share with me :)

If you're new to my monthly challenge it's always anything goes. I don't want to limit creativity. It's for everyone. Beginners and longtime creators... Don't be shy. Your project doesn't have to be a masterpiece. It's all about having fun and experimenting.

Use at least one of my stamps or stencils with whatever media you like. If you don't blog, no worries, you can still join. If you do, please include a link to my challenge in your blog post. I'd really appreciate that. You can upload up to 3 projects per challenge (1 photo per project)

On the 1st of each month I post the new challenge and announce the winner for the last month (I always pick randomly). The winner receives a free stamp or stencil of their choice from my webshop: www.designsbyryn.com

Here's the link for September's challenge.

Sales for September

I've chosen the following stamps to discount by 50%. Hope you like em'!

Flower Lace 2 - $4.49

Flower Lace 1 - $4.99

Leopard Spots - $4.99

Hummingbird Gallery

Lastly, I thought I'd leave you with some inspiration from my Design Team. Not everyone has had a chance to make something yet. More to come!

By Karin van den Broek

He blog post HERE

By Wendy McCarthy

Her blog post HERE

By Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries

Her blog post HERE

By Shirley Deatcher

Her blog post HERE

By Kellie Murton
Her YouTube tutorial HERE

By Wendy McCarthy - pyrography project

Her blog post HERE

By Karin van den Broek

Her blog post HERE

By Kellie Murton

By Alie Hoogenboezem-de Vries

Her blog post HERE

If you'd like more inspiration I try to post every day to my Facebook Page. I'm also on Pinterest.

Thanks so much for stopping by :)

Ryn

September Customer Creation Challenge

Friday, August 21, 2015

New Hummingbird Designs!!!

Hello everyone,

Exciting day! I've just released a couple of new unmounted sheets of Hummingbirds in my shop. Here's a beautiful card from Shirley using the new designs!

New Designs!

Thanks so much for your encouragement and enthusiasm for these stamps! Here they are :)

6 completely new hummingbird designs! I made 3 facing left and 3 facing right to make mixing and matching fun. I hope you enjoy these! The details of the designs came out wonderfully in the rubber. Photos below...
* I will be offering these designs as individual cling-mounted stamps as soon as I finish mounting and cutting them.

Hummingbirds 1 - UM-M6

4 of my original cling-mounted designs (slightly modified) plus one new design. These are slightly bigger in size from the designs on the other sheet.

*My 4 original designs are available cling-mounted HERE. Please note that these stamps will be slightly different from the designs on this sheet.

What the Unmounted Sheets look like...

Hummingbirds 1 - UM-M7
Hummingbirds 2 - UM-M6

I was SO happy to see that my manufacturers captured every last detail of my designs in these! I can't wait to see how you use them!!!

Many thanks for stopping by :)

All my best,

Ryn

 

Monday, August 03, 2015

Iridescent Hummer

Hey everyone,

Just a quick one from me today. I used Twinkling H2Os from ColourArte to paint Flying Hummingbird 3 (coming soon to unmounted sheet - Hummingbirds 1. See last post for more info). I embossed the design in black. The background was made with Dylusions Ink Sprays.

The leaves at the bottom are Striped Reed Set from unmounted sheet - Spirals and Leaves.

This time I tried the paints on a coloured background and they worked out beautifully! My camera didn't quite capture the colours the way they look in real. Ah well. You get the general idea I hope!

Wishing you a great day!

Ryn

Saturday, August 01, 2015

August Sales and News

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all of the feedback on my last post! I have to admit, talking about the Twinkling H2Os got me even more excited about them. Yesterday I browsed through their online shop and bought a few oranges and yellows to fill in my palette. I can't wait for them to arrive!

I'm looking forward to using them with my new Hummingbird designs which are coming out later this month! I think the iridescent paint will be perfect for their feathers.

New Unmounted Sheets Arriving Soon...

Here's a sneak peak of both unmounted sheets. They'll be arriving in my online shop and at select retailers later this month (after the 15th). I'll post a day when we get closer.

UM-M6 is compilation of my current cling-mounted hummingbird designs plus one extra. When making the sheet I couldn't resist making a few minor adjustments to the designs. Mainly around the eyes. As I progress as an artist it's very hard for me to leave my designs as is when I can see how to improve them.

UM-M7 is a sheet of six completely new designs. I had a lot of fun researching different species of hummingbirds for this set. A couple of these are based loosely on existing birds. For example Jamaica's national bird the "Doctor Bird" a.k.a. "Streamer Tail". Does that give away which one it is? There's also one called a "Red-Tailed Comet" and "Booted Racket-Tail".

I hope you like what I came up with. I can't wait to see how people use these!

Challenges with my challenge...

On the first of the month I usually post the Customer Creation Challenge winner for the previous month. I won't be doing that today because I'm having some difficulties with Inlinkz not letting me know who the random winner is. I've written them and am waiting for a reply. I'll post the winner and this month's challenge as soon as I have it all figured out. Promise.

Sales for August

I can post sales today... Here are three cling-mounted stamps that I have discounted by 50% on my website.

Well that's it for now! I'll post about the challenge as soon as I have answers.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Ryn

 

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Twinkling Pinwheels (Hibiscus)

A Swap with ColourArte

A few weeks ago I received a personal message from a woman named Leslie on my Facebook Page asking where she could find my Water Droplet stamps. It was a few messages later that I realized that she was the owner of a company called ColourArte. To be honest, I didn't know much about their products. Only that I had seen the catchy name of one of their products online, "Twinkling H2Os".

I thought it was great that she'd contacted me in such a down to earth way and that she didn't flaunt who she was. We got talking and decided to do a product trade. Why not?! I'd never played with Twinkling H2Os and she wanted to try out my stamps. I couldn't wait to combine them with my designs. Especially the Hummingbirds, Moon Wings and Hibiscus stamps...

It's been a great experience so far! My Design Team and I received a generous amount of paints to experiment with. If you've never played with Twinkling H2Os they are basically watercolour paints with sparkle! Each colour arrived in a little lip gloss container. I've tried watercolour paints in tubes before but just couldn't find my groove with them. These are cakes. They come dry. Simply add water and the the pigment loosens up and becomes paint.

Some Unexpected Advice...

My boyfriend took a look at the paints and gave me a valuable piece of advice from his experience painting little figurines for table top gaming... He always painted metallics over a black base to accent the effect. Normal paints over a white base to brighten the colour.

To test his theory out I used black card stock as a base and embossed my Hibiscus stamp in black and gold. The embossed design created little walls which ended up holding the colour beautifully! I wanted to make sure that I got a thick layer of paint down so that the colour would show on the black base. The spaces between the linework acted like little troughs that held a lot of paint.

My father snatched this one before I could finish it as a card. Lol. He said it was done.
It's always hard to capture "sparkle" in photographs. Hope this close up shows the effect. I didn't mix colours for this experiment.

I used so many of their little paints in this that I'm not going to list all of them. So far all of the colours that I've used have shone beautifully! Here's a link to them. I want more... They're kind of addictive in those little lip gloss containers. The magpie in me wants to collect all of them. Lol. My boyfriend stopped me for now ;)

Well that's it for me for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Ryn

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Give Away Winner!!!

Hey everyone,

50 comments on my last blogpost for the Hibiscus stencil Give Away! That's amazing! Thanks everyone :D

I randomly drew a winner this morning. A big congratulations to... Clavell!!!

"Your designs are amazing!...I love them all and can't wait to see what you design next!!!"

Clavell, please contact me by email with your shipping address and I'll get your stencil in the mail. designsbyryn@gmail.com

The winner for the Paper Crafter's Library Give Away has yet to be announced. I'll let you know as soon as they notify me.

Bye for now!

Ryn

 

Monday, July 06, 2015

Mustard, burgundy and peach...

Hey everyone,

Just a quick one from me today. This card evolved into an interesting combination of colours. I can't say I've ever used mustard, burgundy and peach together before. I like it though! Funny what comes out when you're just going with the flow.

In the background I used my Hibiscus stencil. You can see it poking out here and there but it's mostly just texture back there.

The flowers in the front are my Sideways Hibiscus stamp (unmounted: Hibiscus). I stamped with Versafine ink and painted with acrylics.

The bird is Flying Hummingbird 2. I stamped on a separate sheet, coloured with markers and cut it out to add to the card. Side note: I'm making an unmounted Hummingbird sheet. Coming soon!!!

So much went into this I couldn't possibly explain it all. Still have video making in my mind. Just busy busy with everything else. Will try to get to making tutorials when I can.

Give Away

There's still a Give Away happening on my blog and the Paper Crafter's Library. I'm giving away a Hibiscus unmounted sheet of stamps and my Hibiscus stencil... The draws close this Tuesday night...
If you'd like to participate here are the links:
That's it for now! Thanks for popping by :)
Ryn

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

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

Hello Everyone! HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!

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

Paper Crafter's Library Spotlight

 

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

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

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

A Photo Tutorial

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

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

 

Give Away 

 

I'm also offering a Give Away both on the Paper Crafter's Library blog and on mine. Please feel free to participate in both! I am offering my Hibiscus unmounted stamp sheet on their blog (see below). Please visit them to qualify for this prize. Details on their blog HERE.
On my blog I am giving away the matching Hibiscus stencil below. To qualify, simply leave me a comment on this post. Please let me know if you found me through the Paper Crafter's Library. I'll randomly draw a winner and announce in a week's time (Wednesday).

 

June Challenge Winner 

 

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

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

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

Here are Elvira's makes...



 

Sales for July 

 

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

Fiddlehead Set - $6.49

Spiral Branch Set - $6.49

Begonia - $4.49
Thanks for popping by! Wishing you a great month of July!!!
Bye for now,
Ryn