almost there

In the house of sugar this week we have been packing up stock ready to launch the new releases from Elisabeth Bell and Leanne Ellis for December.

Funkykits have decided to open up pre orders for Gorjuss Girls as soon as the art work is ready and dispatch will be very early in January. We will have to work around seasonal holidays but we are planning to have them with FK before the end of this year{OMG that is only 4 weeks away}.

Here is another peek of a Gorjuss Girl waiting to be turned into one of your favourite stamps. :)

Gorjuss Candy will be included in one of the pre order, what a surprise that would be, not quite Willy Wonkas Golden Ticket but for a small Scottish stamp company it is a great give away.

Guest Design Team; Group B will have their stamps before Christmas, have you all sent your names and addresses to info@sugarnellie.com ?

Have a great weekend sugar babes.

Candy Draw Time......

Drum roll please................ WOW what a lot of you entered this candy draw..........


Leanne's candy give away goes to...........

Quixotic said...
Ohhh yummy blog candy!! :) Would be over the moon to win, but I don't know if I could save it till Christmas day, in fact I'd say fat chance...!
November 21, 2008 5:56 PM

hope you enjoy our candy gift to you, now will you leave it under the tree? We might not send it until last posting day.


And as a bonus I let my two younger children pick tickets and these two runners up will receive a set of six Leanne Ellis stamps too :)

Debbie said...
Oh Wow what fab candy I would love to be included, Hugs Debbie x
November 21, 2008 12:31 PM
BallooBear said...
Wow great Candy...I will leave a message on my blog nowJo

congratulations girls. {email your details to info@sugarnellie.com }

Over at papercraftplanet they are running a little competition, here is the first posting

Here it is -- our First Day of Christmas!. That has special meaning here on Paper Craft Planet -- it means it's DAY ONE of our 12 Days of Christmas Contest!
You can start the season off by winning a great prize! Here's how: Create a card with a tree or a bird on it

SO if you have a partridge in a pear tree, load it on up to their gallery. you have to be in it to win it! Here is one from Marlene, stunning as always.

Gorjuss girl

Tracy must be in her bed because I have not heard the squeels from the up in the Scottish hills as she opens her email and find that we have sketches of the first Gorjuss Girls :) In the office we call it "a tenna moment". All I will say is that there are six for the January release and they are fantastic, we are so lucky at Sugar Nellie to have such great artists on our team.

It will soon be time to draw for Leanne's beautiful goodies, you have to be in it to win it and there are a lot of new faces about, candy brings out the sweet tooth in everyone.

I am playing with a few ideas for the Gorjuss give away, I might think of something a bit different than .....leave a comment. ;)

Can I smell rubber?

The art work is starting to arrive and the next thing will be rubber, we have a few new designs to launch and some top up orders to dispatch, I expect that they will all be available in the next week from www.funkykits.co.uk

I am thinking that these will be the last new stamps for 2008, and anything else can wait for the new year, Gayle will have the blog up and running and it will cause a bit of a buzz if there are new stamps at the same time.

Marlene and Tiets will appreciate that there will be no big rush and the next batch of Guest DT members will receive their packs over the holidays too.

We are busy working with Craft Stamper at the moment and if you don't already read this UK magazine, you are missing seeing your favourite sweet Sugar Nellie stamps in print. There are a few features coming up next year and a special give away :)

Have a cozy day from all at the cold and frosty House of Sugar.

Candy worth shouting about

The very talented Leanne has an etsy shop

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5664123

and I have one beautiful pieces of art to give away. Something unique, beautiful and a fitting prize for a crafter. This candy comes with its own set of first edition rubber stamps. All 6 of Leanne's new stamps will be added to this candy box, and I ain't stopping there, much more in the box but lets keep that a secret so that maybe if you win, a surprise awaits you, but would you keep it until Christmas day?

I will be drawing the lucky winner on 28th November, one winner, one BIG prize, no one does candy as sweet as Sugar Nellie. :)

You need to be in it to win it, add your comment here. Good luck.

and finally

I am delighted to introduce you to Mary Hall, I have lifted some of Mary's cutest artwork from her site,( I know this is naughty so please do not lift it from me)

Visit http://www.maryhall-illustration.co.uk/ and view her style, I am sure that there is going to be many great stamps designed from Mary, welcome to the Sugar Nellie family Mary.

I am sure you will agree that the three new illustrators make Sugar Nellie complete, all with their own style each one different and each one a talented artist. The start of 2009 is going to be lots of fun with so many new ranges I think it might be a difficult choice for any Sugar Addict.

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Gayle is looking to launch the new blog at the new year so there will be one big party here at the House of Sugar.

But we are not finished with 2008 yet! More rubber on the way to top up Funkykits and hopefully, fingers crossed the very busy Elisabeth will have time to complete the artwork for more fantastic stamps for Sugar Nellie.

How many stamping days until Christmas?

Forums

I have spent a day at home with a sick child, one day off work and a house to clean, the plans changed with one phone call from the school. So down went the cleaning tools and the rest of the day was spent on the computer while sitting on the sofa nursing mini me.

I ventured around the usual blogs, visited UKS which has become so quiet it hardly warrants a daily visit. SCS is vast and full of fabby ideas and inspiration, but today I found

http://www.papercraftplanet.com

how new this forum is, I do not know, but I did take the time to log in and have a look around, found a very small Sugar Nellie fan base, only four others of which I "knew" two. *waves to Alison and Caz. Shows you how small we are in the big world of rubber stamp companies.

Where to you chat with fellow crafters, link to your fav forum.

BIG news time

I now have all the contracts back from our three new stamp illustrators, to be fair to these girls I like to introduce them one at a time.

Today I want to tell you about Suzanne, I approached Suzanne last year but as a small new business could not commit to her as we would have liked BUT this is now our second year and I am happy to invest in brilliant exclusive illustrators, contracts are signed, the sketch pad is out and I am sure that you want to see some "GORJUSS" things that Suzanne does.

Gorjuss Art is very well know in the digi world and with some exclusive stamps about to enter the inky world of card making I am sure it will bring a smile to your day, especially Tracy over at Funkykits who is thee biggest Gorjuss fan :) * I can see her doing the happy dance*

We have some fabby candy to give away in the build up to these new stamps, but for today , go have a look at Suzanne Woolcott's Gorjuss Art.

http://www.gorjuss.co.uk/

Another one from Elisabeth

I cold and frosty winter is ahead for us here in Scotland, and this little sweetheart can be stamped all winter, snowflakes and frosty glitter will surely be used on many a card featuring this soon to arrive Elisabeth Bell illustration.

I am hoping to have one more batch of new stamps before the end of the year, some from Elisabeth and others from Leanne. Maybe something rubbery will be under your tree this festive season :)

Dutch fun

Good luck to all the girls attending Cards at the Castle, maybe one day we will go too. I have been to Scrap a ganza a few times and now I love to do more cards, we have many lovely Dutch customers and even with very slow postal system they always come back for more, thank you girls have lots of fun tomorrow at the castle.

Job offered to............

............after much blog hopping again, I am offering the SN challenge/competitions/tutorial/promotional/inspirational and all that jazz blog to


Gayle http://littlebirddesign.blogspot.com/

Congratulations Gayle you now have a job on your hands and we don't even pay peanuts but we are going to be sending you a ridiculous amount of sugar for yourself and for prizes too.

I know you will give Gayle your support and to get things started I would like your ideas for the new blogs name and any ideas on what you would like to see. This new blog is going to be the sprinkles on to of the sweet sugar nellie cake. It will also replace the forum which will close soon as it was only ment to be temporary.

A huge thank you to the many girls who offered their services, ideas and help.

Welcome to the house of sugar....

Leanne Ellis.

While blog hopping I found Leanne and although not the normal safe Sugar Nellie style I believe that this is a great step forward, something different and something trendy. She does lots of different work but these three are my favourites and this is the direction we will take with the new range of stamps. I can see many possibilities for this style of stamp and I am really excited by her joining the house of sugar. I hope to share with you the sketches of the new stamps when they are ready but for now, a big welcome to Leanne.

Wednesday tick list

Blog candy going out to Erica for some fabby work on her blog...tick

Blog candy for those who guessed Maggie.......Tammi. Lynn Anderson, Heather,Kathy, Glitter Monkey, Gayle and Macpurp. [those in red have been posted]

*whispers*Kathy in USA I must admire your Basic Grey challenge entry, beautiful card love those tiny buttons :)

All new contracts posted...................tick.

Exchange rate checked, WOW you girls across the pond have a great exchange rate, now is the time to buy sugar as the rate has not been this good in years, bad for us as everything in USA is now 25% more expensive than last year.........tick

...............and I have received one contract back, I will be back later to introduce our first new artist for 2009 ;)

In the house of sugar

Today I am back doing a few hours work for SN, the last delivery of Christmas stamps have arrived and that is the last batch this year. Funkykits have already had their delivery but correct me if I wrong ..........Santa with tree is sold out. None left, all gone..........finished. Another stamp in short supply is Daisy, is it any wonder she is such a darling and Elisabeth has more beautiful designs to come.
I must make a choice with the new blog and who will be blog mama, so many to choose from sorry if again I am taking too long but it's all your fault for making my job so much harder. Many of you already run blog and to be fair I do like to give others a chance, no reflection on your abilities but it is good to share, to much sugar can I believe be bad for you!

New designers, almost there, I am waiting for paperwork and then I can introduce you to a lovely British illustrator and after having a peek at her own blog you might get an idea of what she will be doing for Sugar Nellie.

Have a great day if you can, a little colouring in and a little house work makes for a shorter day.
Welcome back Marlene, sounds like we all should have taken a trip to the show.

Monday

The DT have been busy this weekend, blog links on the right, please leave a sugar comment on their blogs.

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Thank you all for your great support, the sad bit is that I can only choose one. That will leave more than a few of you disapointed, I dont like to disapoint and I hope you dont take it to heart. Give me a little time yet to think it over there is a lot going on tonight and I have a few emails to deal with first.

WHO is the favourite character......................its Maggie!

For those of you guessed right before the cut off, email info@sugarnellie.com with your addy for little candy. :)

Linda first drew Hamish and Maggie last year and added more at the start of the summer, Linda is having a break from illustrating but we hope she will be back very soon as her characters are very much loved in the house of sugar.

BUT considering that Sweet Art Ebony arrived in the house of sugar early summer, she is hot on the heals of Maggie. I took the time to visit Elisabeth's galleries tonight and she has made a great job of putting all your beautiful cards in one place.

for Sweet Art Ebony visit http://www.zhibit.org/elisabethbell/sweet-ebony-cards-2

for Honey & Pip visit http://www.zhibit.org/elisabethbell/honey-pip-cards

Elisabeth has some more fantastic designs for us and I am sure they will be in the house very soon, two peeks just to tease you. But we are already working on designs for next year;)

Job offer!

I am on overload at work and no computer wiz kid.
So I am looking for one sugar addict to run a creativity blog for Sugar Nellie with challenges, competitions, give aways and tutorials.
So you need to have lots of computer time and know your way around the blog land. Make the page your own with banners links and tags. You will be free to do as you see fit under the watchful eye of the house of sugar and we will spoon feed you sugar to keep you happy.

interested..................leave me a link in your comment post to your blog and I will have a lookie.

One year later............

It is one year today since the first Sugar Nellie stamp was sold on Funkykits. WOW what a year it has been, there was a little message from Tracy over at Funkykits to remind me that one year ago the first stamp to sell was sitting nellie. The original range was illustrated by Eva and not long after she was joined by Linda, at the start of 2008 we launched Rachelle and then in the spring Elisabeth. All these girls have their own characters and the variety of carefully chosen illustrators has been a successful move fro Sugar Nellie.

And can you guess which is our most popular character? I will give you candy if you get it right. (candy give alway now closed as so many of you got it right) I will give you the answer later, off now to write down all the names who did get it right.

Things are all about to change, I am almost ready to tell you but you need to wait just little bit longer :)

Congratulations to all our stamp designers, well done all our creative DT, and a BIG thank you to you, our customers for you support.

ETA Rachelle has had a little addition of her own, :) congratulations to the Miller family on the save arrival of your son.

Creative Design Team

A huge thank you to the guest on the DT for the past release from both Elisabeth Bell and Soft Centres, girls you have done wonders in creating cards with you kit. Remember to stop by their blogs to see what they have all been up too.

Intresting readings

There have been many comment on the subject of a stamp club/kit. I am still interested in reading your opinion so please leave your comments on the last post.

I can say the there is no hanglar news :(

There will be no papers in the kit I agree, papers are something we all have too much of.

Should the "kit" stamps be available at a later date one by one? or exclusive only in the kit.
I don't want to leave anyone out so what about a new collection being split into a small kit and the rest being available one by one?

Should the kit be viewed before commitment? Would you like a different illustrator for each kit?
Monthly or quarterly? Should it be limited in numbers, closing date for orders etc

Tomorrow sees a new contract going out in the post, one of three I hope to conclude before the new year. Once the paperwork is in place I will tie the carrot on the string and begin to dangle :)
I will have blog candy like no other to give away and that's before the stamps arrive. Keep tuned and don't miss out, something yummy could be under the tree for you this year. You had better be good.

Sweet sugar WAR!

Word on the blog land grape vine is that Maddy has kept Calvin's Sugar Nellie stamp and has used her!
http://madimaginations.blogspot.com/ ..................go have a giggle and look at those darling fimo creations.

Congratulations to all in USA, a new start for you all, better things to come. They can not get any worse and its great to be able to say its the first man in the white house who does not have grey hair! (Scottish humour)

Have you all finished your Christmas cards yet?.............hurry up because I have something exciting to tell you :)

STAMP CLUB
What are your views on a stamp club, we are working with Funkykits putting ideas forward as to how we can improve/expand the service. With three new illustrators on the horizon and a regular new monthly release date, I am now wondering about making some of the stamps available as a kit. many options are open to us but I would like your feedback, what do you like and don't like about kits/clubs..........................answers will not be published so tell it as it is :)

Samples galore

The post man had lots of packets, both from Marlene and Tiets, lovely cards and sweeties. Thank you girls they are all lovely and I am sending some to the Birmingham show :)

busy weekend crafting

The design team have been busy making lots of lovely Sugar Nellie creations. Marlene & Tiets have been joined by Karen, Gayle, Sarah , Vicky & Dawn. All our girls do a fantastic job and are we appreciate you all, thank you.

Next week I would hope to introduce you to our new Scottish illustrator. Having met her in Glasgow while at the show and we have a few things to wrap up yet, I approached her last year but was unable to commit to such a well know artist in her field. The support you have shown and success of such a small Scottish stamp company in its first year has allowed us to open the doors to more illustrators, some are named others are not. Either way we will continue to bring you something different, professionally illustrated and beautiful to colour, in other words "what every stamper wants". Those who have had a peek are excited, this just confirms my opinion that we are going in the right direction .

What we do has a knock on effect to others involved with Sugar Nellie, some of our illustrators have moved on to other projects fueled undoubtedly by the publicity received when we launched them as rubber stamp designers, magazine feature for crafters who inspired to be published, demonstration and design team work , no matter how small a company we are our passion and commitment to open door for others if we can is just something we choose to do. Our love of this hobby and our drive to bring you something better is a huge amount of fun and most of the time highly enjoyable. Enjoy your weekend and finish off your Chirstmas cards as there is something new coming our way :)

Erica is amazing

Yes some of us have come across her work before but if you are new to Sugar Nellie, pop over to
http://blogje-van-eer.blogspot.com/2008/10/finallymy-project-o.html
and see the amazing project, its just darling.

I think its time to send some candy to Erica, a few animals to challenge her a little :)

Ethel all group A have their stamps group B will be sent something new, maybe even a new collection by a new designers dependant on the time scale.

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Sarah has been busy and here is here card, I love the colour and he sentiment, pop over to her blog for more details. Thank you Sarah it is beautiful, thanks for sharing.