Banana Frog Blog

Product launch -Christmas Sets!

I know, I know, it is only July but in the crafting world that means Christmas time! I know that so many people start making their Christmas cards now and over the summer is the ideal time to start work on Christmas mini-books and scrapbook pages as well as some gorgeous Christmas presents!

We have three fantastic new designs for you to love and they are available now! Each set is deep etched and measures 6x4".

 Christmas Elegance

It's Christmas Deer

Winter Wonderland

 

Aren't they just gorgeous? I will be launching them on Create and Craft on Monday 26th July at 10am (make sure you watch online or on tv!) but you can get them first over on the Banana Frog site.

You can also get hold of these three Christmas goodies!

Retro Christmas

Retro Snowflakes

Retro Baubles

For a limited time, if you buy any 4 sets of the Christmas stamps you will get the Retro Baubles free! You don't need to use a code or anything, we will just add the set as we pack ☺

Make sure you check out the blog for ideas on how to use these new sets, some gorgeous projects will be coming soon!

New designs -and more giveaways!

I love it when I get to share new designs and this month we are getting ready for the summer months with a tropical feel!

The first design is called Totally Tropical and is full of swirls and hibiscus. Also, the journaling spot is the perfect size for a 2 inch punch -because who has time to try and cut a perfect circle, right?!

 

The second set is called Tropical Taste and it is Tadpole size. I love the journaling label.

Here's a super simple card I made. All I did was stamp the corner swirl onto kraft cardstock, then stamp it again and cut out the flowers. I popped these on foam pads for some dimension, then stamped and punched out the journal spot. Finally I added some lovely stickles for a bit of glitz. Like I said, super simple, but stylish.

Here is a second card using the same corner stamp. This time I heat embossed the design using versamark and clear embossing powder and then rubbed ink over the card. On the background card I used the swirl stamp -loving using that as an accent!

 

The next set is one that I know lots of people will love as since I mentioned I was going to bring it out I have had lots of emails from people asking when it was due. Well, it is here! De Louisville is a fantastic, quirky font that is great on cards as well as layouts especially in the Tadpole size.

For this card I paired the De Louisville with Totally Tropical. See how lovely and at home it looks :)

Nat has already been using this set like crazy, so I wanted to share a couple. The first card was for the birthday blog hop, lovely and pink.

Nat's second card uses the smallest die in one of the Nestabilities range. Fantastic idea to use these for letters, and I love the colour combo!

Finally, time to bring one of my favourite big alphabets to a small size. I love Budmo Jiggler and it looks fantastic in its new Tadpole size! It is a real stand out alphabet and the addition of some bling really adds the wow factor :)

This card is so easy, but looks so effective. I simply drew some lines in pencil and then stamped my word repeatedly. I highlighted Love you in red to make it stand out even more. I rubbed out the lines and then added stickles!

I hope you like the new sets as much as we do. The design team have got some fantastic projects lined up to show them off :)

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think -you could win one of the new sets!

Also, every order placed in the shop this month will stand the chance of winning £50 worth of stamps!
 
  

Happy Birthday Banana Frog!

4 years. I can't quite believe it has been 4 years since we first started as Banana Frog. Since that time I've changed, the craft industry has changed and I've met lots and lots of lovely people both in person and online! I truly enjoy designing the stamps and am always excited when I see that someone has used Banana Frog stamps and it amazes me how creative people can be. So I thank everyone for 'getting me' and my designs :)

Okay, enough gushing from me, onto the celebrations as birthdays are for celebrating!

   

Normally at a birthday there are presents, and so we are having a super big giveaway this month. You need to leave us a birthday comment at the end of this post for the chance to win a £100 voucher at Banana Frog. Yes, £100 to spend on goodies! You have until the 30th May to leave a comment and I will post the winner on the 31st. So go ahead, get commenting!

Also, every order at Banana Frog between now and the 30th May will be put in a separate draw to win another £100 voucher to spend on goodies! So get ordering!

We will also have little giveaways during the birthday month from some of the design team members so check back all the time.

The other big news today is the launch of a new size of stamps for Banana Frog! Please welcome the Tadpole Sets -yes, cheesy I know :) The new size is approximately 4x3" and works perfectly with its bigger brothers and sisters. The first Tadpole set is called Shake your tail feathers and looks gorgeous on its own or beautiful alongside our other new set Hiya Chick. 

    

   

I'll be back soon to share some ideas for both of these gorgeous new sets.

Until then, join me in singing the birthday song to Banana Frog...

The results are in!

You remember this post back in January? We have been amazed at the response both in terms of numbers and talent. There was so many fantastic designers that it has been a very tough job narrowing it down. But, we had to and it is finally time to reveal the new additions to our design team!

So, no dance off, no skate off, and no sing off. Drum roll please...ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted to announce that the 4 wonderful and super talented ladies joining the Banana Frog design team for 2010 are:

• Sharmaine Kruijver
• Kirsty Wiseman
• Debbie Nicholas
• Annlouise Rispling

Congratulations!! We can't wait to see the new projects that you will come up with.

And there's more (okay so you knew I wouldn't be able to just stop right?!). Like last year we so innundated that we have made space for some guest designers! We would love to invite the following 12 designers to join us as a guest designer:

• Alison Drummond Jones
• Alessandra Lamacchia
• Mija Comstad
• Katy Fox
• Anne Lawrence
• Anna Parker
• Birgit Moosbauer
• Rossella Palladino
• Sarah Piggott
• Rebekah Norman
• Diane Ingram
• Gaelle Bentchoula

Congratulations to everyone, and again, thank you so much to everyone who entered. There will be chance for everyone to join in throughout the year as we will be having lots of challenges and giveaways. For now though, let's welcome the new team and guest designers. It's going to be a fantastic year with some amazing projects on the blog, so stay tuned!

Big, BIG News

The design team contest has now closed and I have to say we have had an amazing response -both in terms of numbers and pure talent. Thank you. Results will be announced on February 21st so make sure you check back then.So, onto the big news ☺ but first, the story so far:

I started to scrapbook back in 2003 after I picked up a scrapbooking magazine while on honeymoon in New Zealand. I became immediately hooked! It was great because I could bring in my other craft techniques such as stamping into my new hobby, but I did feel at the time that I couldn't really find the stamp designs I wanted. So when I went on maternity leave from my role as a Research Manager at BT in June 2005 I started thinking more about it and, while my daughter had her naps, I would do research (always a researcher!) and then began to make my designs.

In May 2006 I launched Banana Frog. It was like having a third baby! We had about 20 or so designs when we first started, and they are still some of the most popular today. Things went from strength to strength and in October 2008 we decided to switch to trade only. We have really enjoyed working with shop owners and doing workshops with their customers has been fantastic.

In the past few months we have talked to, in my view, the two best distributors in the UK about taking Banana Frog to another level. For one reason or another though it didn't seem right. Then something happened in my personal life which made me take a step back and think about what I wanted for this baby. I realised I wanted to be closer again to Banana Frog and I also missed talking to customers and getting their views on things (see, told you, always a researcher!)

We have made the decision to make a return to retail and so you will be able to buy Banana Frog stamps from Banana Frog! Sure, there is a financial impact on us but it matters more that a. I am happy as I get to talk to customers and design for them at a closer level and b. well, there isn't really a b. it is mainly all about me! ☺

The coming months are going to be exciting as we are lining up a fantastic design team for 2010 with more challenges and giveaways, and also we are going to launch some terrific new Banana Frog products. So stay tuned for both of those. You can also, of course, watch me with Banana Frog on Create and Craft TV (I think you can only watch this in the UK, but you may be able to watch online if you are overseas), my next show is on Saturday 20th Feb at 11am.

Don't forget that you can win a set of stamps this week by commenting on Shimelle's post. You just need to let us know your favourite set.

All in all, I think it is going to be a great year, I hope you enjoy it.

A gentle reminder...

This is just a gentle reminder that our design team contest will close in less than 7 days! We have had some fantastic entries so far but, always greedy, we want to see more! 

So, what am I talking about? Well this of course:

We have had a shake up and a switch around and are delighted to announce that we are currently looking for 4 talented lovely people to join our design team!

Each month you would complete 2-3 projects (Projects can be cardmaking, scrapbooking, altered items, home decor etc) which will include project of the day but also colour focus or sketch challenges and technique based projects for the Lilypad Lessons (which used to be called Stamping School).

To be considered please send an email to me at sales@bananafrog.co.uk and please include:

• a bit about yourself (because we are nosey!)
• examples of your projects
• links to any galleries of your work
• link to your blog if you have one
• details of any current design teams (again because we are nosey!)
• your address

Closing date is midnight (GMT) on Valentine's Day, February 14th and we will announce the winners on February 21st.

Good luck, we can't wait to hear from you!

Design Team Search!

As always, I am running late!

We had a fantastic design team in 2009 with lots of amazing projects which I hope have inspired you. I want to say a huge thank you to all the team and thank everyone for the wonderful projects they shared.

2010 is going to be a great year with more new designs and exciting plans that I am dying to tell you about...but can't yet!

We have had a shake up and a switch around and are delighted to announce that we are currently looking for 4 talented lovely people to join our design team!

Each month you would complete 2-3 projects (Projects can be cardmaking, scrapbooking, altered items, home decor etc) which will include project of the day but also colour focus or sketch challenges and technique based projects for the Lilypad Lessons (which used to be called Stamping School).

To be considered please send an email to me at sales@bananafrog.co.uk and please include:

• a bit about yourself (because we are nosey!)
• examples of your projects
• links to any galleries of your work
• link to your blog if you have one
• details of any current design teams (again because we are nosey!)

Closing date is midnight (GMT) on Valentine's Day, February 14th and we will announce the winners on February 21st.

Good luck, we can't wait to hear from you!

Getting ready

I just wanted to show my desk. I would like to think that by showing it to you that it would make me more tidy in future. Cathartic like. I'd like to think that, but I know that is just not going to happen! Anyone who knows me well, anyone who has worked with me or even just spent time with me or anyone who has cropped with me will know I am messy. I am clean but incredibly messy. I am the kind of person who has to tidy up her craft area before she can do anything creative or uses every pot and pan in the house when cooking -just ask John!

So here it is...

I need to also tell you that I was still actually working on this space when I took the photo. I ended up with about 3" square! Thank God I was making cards and not scrapbooking at the time!

The eagle eyed amongst you will notice a couple of new images amongst the mess on my desk (and for those not eagle eyed, they are the butterflies and the Japanese dolls), they are brand new stamps which I will be launching on the TV tomorrow. If you are awake at 9am tomorrow morning tune in to Create and Craft and laugh at me while I try to demonstrate while concentrating on not swearing, looking at the monitors or sticking my tongue out in concentration! If you would like to see the new sets ahead of time, check out here where you can see what will be on the show -scroll down a bit to see the stamps.

I have made quite a few bits and bobs but have had a huge helping hand from Kirsty, Audrey and Michelle. Thank you so much. They realised that things were getting a bit stressful with having 2 kids off school sick and so sent me some gorgeous samples to show. Thank you, thank you :)

OKay, so I have to pack everything up and get ready. Let me know if you watch the show!

And the winner is...

Thanks to everyone who left a lovely message on the new designs post, it was great hearing what you think of them. As promised there is a prize of a full set going to one lucky poster, and so without further ado, the results from the random number generator are:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

63

Timestamp: 2009-10-16 07:48:36 UTC

which is...

WOW---Love them all--
count me in!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: {vicki} | September 29, 2009 at 02:52 PM

Congratulations Vicki! Please email me your details and I will get a pack of loveliness sent out to you.

We will have more giveaways soon, so stay tuned!

Normal service interrupted...

Those of you who regularly visit us over here on the frog blog will know that on the 1st and 15th of the month we introduce you to a wonderful guest designer. Sadly we have had to postpone our October guest designer Jolene for a while.

This is not because we don't love her work, not because we aren't excited to see how she uses Banana Frog, not because we don't have any stamps to send her. No. It is down to postal problems with either Royal Mail or US Post. Yes, somewhere between Banana Frog HQ and Jolene's house there has been some ninja type happenings and the parcel is missing!

Never fear though, soon another parcel with some of the new designs will be winging its way across the Atlantic. Hopefully this one will be immune to ninja's!

Speaking of new designs, check them out here and don't forget to leave a comment by midnight GMT 15th October to get the chance to win a full set of yumminess!