Demo pieces by Tracey

Tracey made some ATC's and other items in her demos last Saturday.  I am going to show you a selection of some of the pieces Tracey, Leonie and Vix left for us after their demos.  Plus mine of course.

It could get a bit interesting as they all got mixed up when they were packed away so I'm not 100% sure whose bits are whose!  Some were backgrounds and some are images that need making into cards and need finishing off. 

Leonie set me a challenge to make some of hers into cards, so I'll show them once I've had a chance to get onto them.

To start, here are a few of Tracey's ATCs.  These 3 are from Tracey's Artistic Elements stamp sheets.  The first shows some faux stitching that she made using her Tim Holtz ruler.  The holes are pricked through the ruler and card then a white pen used for the stitching, it's very effective.  I suspect Tracey used one of the new Distress Inks Victorian Velvet for the background.  I love those keys!

I also love the inky splodge stamp from the same sheet.

And, finally for now, the heart wings design.

More tomorrow!

Jill

First Bloggerversary Today!

WOW...A whole year of blogging, who'd have thought I would keep it up and get so hooked on doing it!  It's all your fault Debbie, you've a lot to answer for with all your nagging of me to do it!! 

So, I'd like to thank everyone for your support, for following, visiting, leaving comments and joining in with our giveaways etc, it is really appreciated.

To expand a little further, I will soon be starting some challenges so please keep visiting and I hope you will join in.

Jill

Another fantastic demo day!

It was Leonie Pujol and Jill Boulton's turn to demo today. Here's Leonie 'from the telly' getting VERY messy with Distress Inks, Moonglow Embossing Powders, Starburst Stains and all sorts of stuff!

And here's Jill Boulton, demonstrating metal embossing, oops Tracey's got hooked on it now:)  But she was certainly not alone!  And, our Helen looked mesmerised by it throughout the day. 

Jill's work with metal and all the Ranger products is out of this world, Jill incorporated a number of products with the metal work.  I love it when she brings the artwork she has made for us to see, its awesome, I could look at it all day, every day.  It's all very textured, you want to touch it as well as admire it.

Let's see what Leonie is up to in the other room... Yeap, still getting messy, she did some fab techniques with all the bits and bobs I'd left for her to play with on the table.  She was using Tracey's Alluring Ladies and Artistic Element stamp sheets. 

Leonie bought Moonglow embossing powders from us YEARS ago when we first started selling them, it must be about 8/9/10 ish years ago now?  So I knew she'd get on brilliantly with them.

Would it be cruel to mention the embossed 'scab' design you made Leonie?  That was soooooo funny, it needs a mention!!!  Wish I'd taken a photo of it to share:)  I'm sure Carol will make something nice with it, put it to better use:)  I'm sure too that we all make embossed scabs sometime, but only you could do it with an audience, lol, and it had to happen with abattoir colours didn't it!!  How funny too that Carol wanted to take your bin home with her, your hidden treasures and mine from yesterday:)   I hope she didn't do that!! 

You should have seen the colour of Leonie's hands at the end of the day, oh dear, not a good look when you're heading off out to dinner straight after:) 

I thought we could have a messy contest to see who made the most mess, it would have been funny if I started at one end of the shop and Leonie the other and see who reached the other's half of the shop first! 

I had a small table at the front of the shop today to demonstrate Tim's new dies for people interested in seeing them in action,  you should have seen the mess I made on that little table, no photo proof though, sorry!  If I hadn't tried to be a bit restrained, the cut out pieces could well have spread through the length of the shop like Tim confetti, especially the letters and numbers from Tim's Vintage Market alphabet and number die, I had quite an alphabet soup going with all the different papers I had cut them from!! 

I will show you some of the bits and pieces I've cut with Tim's dies when they are in a more orderly order:)  I have to admit to getting far too excited when I got them all and went a tad mad on a cutting out frenzy, I'm sure you'll understand why:)

Now then...

Leonie looks to be going ummmm in this photo!  Probably at the lovely demo pieces she made.  She has left them behind for me to make them into cards, a challenge for me from Leonie!  So watch this space.

Back to Jill Boulton, Jill's embossed metal work is brilliant, if you couldn't visit today and fancy trying this then Jill has a workshop with us on 15th May, if you wish to attend, you can book HERE or telephone the shop on 01756 797048.  I've been on this course with Jill when she held this with us before and I really enjoyed it, I learnt lots more techniques.

We are now going to hold our workshops in the newly made room so we can have larger groups for workshops now, the bonus is that it is warmer in there too. 

Watch this space for news of other stuff happening in the new space we've made!

Back to Leonie, deep in chatter...  It was lovely to see her having a chance to catch up with some of her old friends, she was really looking forward to that.

And finally, the day ends...It's been a great time, a whole weekend of inspiration, messiness and play, catching up with each other, lots of fun and laughter, and we've all agreed to do it again.  

 
Thank you to everyone who visited us over the weekend, also thanks to Leonie, Tracey, Jill and Vix who demonstrated plus all who helped us, I hope you can all join us again for the next one!!
 
Well, it's ended up being a VERY VERY late post tonight as I nodded off mid post, I didn't mean to, but just did.  Time for bed properly now.
 
I'll show photos of some of the things we made asap.
 
Jill

Some photos from our Demo Day today

We've had a great day today, very pleasant with lots of laughter!  Here's Tracey doing her stuff with her stamps, Tim's Distress inks and ideology products.  Tracey's samples are gorgeous and she is leaving them at the shop for us to share with you when you visit in future.

Next, is Vix playing with her favourite things, Starburst Stains and Moonglow embossing powders.

And finally me...  Playing with Starburst Stains and Tim's new Alteration dies.

Tomorrow Leonie Pujol and Jill Boulton will be demonstrating from 10am - 5pm.  I hope to get a chance to continue demonstrating here and there with the Cuttlebug, the embossing folders and nesties plus of course with Tim's new dies.  Tracey will also be there tomorrow too, so it will be great if you can call in for a visit to say hello.  I'll try to take more photos.

Thank you to everyone who visited today and we're looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Jill

Demonstration Weekend - 24th/25th April

Please scroll down for newer posts

Demonstrators are

Leonie Pujol, Create and Craft TV Presenter

Tracey Coates, one of our stamp designers

Jill Boulton, workshop tutor

Jill Tuck, thats me!

It will be held at our shop/unit at

10 Craven Nursery Park

Snaygill Industrial Estate

Keighley Road

Skipton

North Yorkshire

BD23 2QR

We will be open from 10am - 5pm on both days

Tracey and I will be demonstrating on Saturday

Leonie and Jill Boulton will be demonstrating on Sunday

We are having one of our clear outs,

so there will be lots of bargains too!

Tea and coffee will be available.

There's plenty of parking, but we ask that spaces directly

outside our unit be reserved for disabled parking. 

I will be mentioning more about the weekend in due course

and I will post a map later this week to help you find us.

We hope you will be able to join us!!

It's nearly the weekend!!

I'm REALLY looking forward to the weekend, and the good stuff started this afternoon when Tracey arrived:) 

We set up our demo tables, then headed off for a Chinese meal earlier this evening and had a catch up chat.

We've been busy again here getting everything ready, it's been quite a challenge transforming the warehouse into a sale shop, you wouldn't believe the stuff we've moved, packed and re-priced!!! 

In amongst all this I've been playing with Tim's new dies, I've tried them with all sorts of materials and will be showing them over the weekend.  No doubt they will work there way here eventually for people to see who are too far away to visit us this weekend.

Tracey's sample boards are stunning and Vix had sent her latest collection of cards ahead that arrived today, they are the cards she has shown on her blog and they are out on display for everyone to see in real life, loads of great ideas on them.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to take some photos over the weekend.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great weekend, it sounds like the weather will be good to us all for the next couple of days.

Jill

Demonstration/Open Days - This Weekend!

We have been busy getting ready for this weekend, we have been setting up our warehouse side as another shop and demo area.  So we now have double the size of sales space!!

I did promise bargains and nearly all the stock in the new area is HALF PRICE!!  We've had a really good sort out so there is a lot of stuff in there at brilliant prices, these prices are only for people visiting us, they are not currently available for mail order unfortunately.

Here's an example...

Some Aspects of Design unmounted stamp sheets were £19.90 now £10
Non-Sequitur unmounted stamp sheets were £19.90 now £10
Tim Holtz wood mounted stamps now half price
Lots of others such as Hero Arts (stamps and sets), Art Impressions, Medallions, Fairy Poppets stamps now half price

There are templates, card, paper packs and LOADS of embellishments at half price too.

We are also offering a grab bag free to customers who spend over £25 (while stocks last).

We had another delivery today of more of Tim's alteration dies, his paper stacks and other Ideology products amongst other things so we have a really good stock now.  I have been tracking the parcels path from America wondering if they would get here in time with flights being cancelled and on Wednesday they arrived in Spain and sat there all day.  I wasn't holding up much hope of getting them before the weekend but noticed last night that they had reached Birmingham and the nice delivery man dropped them off today.  I was very pleased to see him!

Tracey Coates and I will be demonstrating on Saturday and Jill Boulton and Leonie will be demonstrating on Sunday.  I had a call from Vix (Vixykins) yesterday, she is being let out to play on Saturday and will join us for the day, YIPPEE!!  So, they'll be a demo spot or 2 from Vix with Starburst Stains if you call in on Saturday.  Debbie Dolphin and Michelle (Midnight Crafter) will be there helping on Saturday too. 


Tracey has been busy making samples and will be using her stamps with Tim's distress inks and other products.  I will be demonstrating Starburst Stains and Tim's new dies and other stuff.

On Sunday, Jill Boulton will be demonstrating with Tim/Ranger products and Leonie Pujol will be getting messy with Starburst Stains and other stuff.


We are all looking forward to the weekend and hope you will be able to join us. 

We'll get the kettle on:)

Jill

Tim's new Sizzlits Decorative Strip Dies

For my next installment of temptation-ness, it's the Sizzlits Decorative Strip Dies, and they tempted me:)

There is Vintage Mark

Filmstrip Frames

And finally Ticket Strips.

My mind is mulling over some ideas, Debbie called in the shop today and we had a chat about how they could be used.  They are quite long and thinner than the other dies, as I've not tried them yet I'm not sure of which plates you will need but I'll let you know. 

The alphabet has numbers too, add photos or stamped designs within the film frames and make your own tickets, all so useful! 

I've had people asking for stamps they can use with children at school to make tokens for free treats for their parents/grandparents ie, one for washing up, making the beds, hoovering, washing the car etc.

Caroline (yes YOU if you are reading this!), sent me a Birthday card years ago with tokens inside.  They were for a day out together, each token had its own 'gift', which were being taken out for the day, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and cake etc.  If was such a thoughtful present and I was so thrilled with it, we had a fab day out.  Isn't that a great idea!!  The ticket strip die would be perfect for this kind of thing. 

I'm sure we will all be showing you things we make with them along with the other dies that we will be using at our demonstration weekend next week.

Of course, they can be found HERE

More of Tim's new Alteration Dies in stock

We had a delivery today with more of the new dies plus some restocks.  Here's a few of them...

Oh dear, it's all far too tempting!!  Cuttlebug here I come... If you are wondering, yes, they can be used with the Cuttlebug, you just need the 2 B plates.  They are too wide for the original red Sizzix, I haven't tried them through my Wizard yet, but I will let you know about that another time.

If you are tempted too, you'll find them on our website HERE

Jill

Tim's Fanciful Flight Alteration Die Blog Candy, winner annoucement!

The winner of this amazing Tim Alteration Fanciful Flight Sizzix die is....

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:
17
Timestamp: 2010-04-13 12:14:13

The winner is Fliss...

Congratulations FLISS!!!!

Please contact me at thestampman@btconnect.com to claim your prize

HUGE thanks to everyone who entered, I've loved receiving your entry comments, sorry you didn't win this time but I hope you will continue joining in as I have another lined up for you all in the next few days:)

Jill

EDIT:  Fliss has claimed her prize.

BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY!

NOW CLOSED!

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR NEWER POSTS

We have put one of Tim's new Sizzix Alteration Dies to one side for the prize for a bit of fun until all the others arrive. 

You will need a die cutting machine to use the prize, so if you have any machine that accepts Sizzix then do join in!

For those with blogs - to enter all you need to do is leave a comment below this post and spread the word on your blog by putting a picture of this blog candy onto your blog sidebar linking it back to this post. If you would like to sign up to become a follower that would be great, as we'd really love you to follow our blog, but is not a requirement.


For those without blogs - please leave a comment below this post. Please note that you will need to leave your full name within the comment to be entered, otherwise anonymous entries cannot be accepted.

One entry only, duplicate entries will not be counted.

This candy will run from now until Midday (GMT) on Monday 12th April 2010.

The winner will be selected at random and announced soon after.

You will need to call back to see if you have won.  If the prize has not been claimed by midday Wednesday 14th Apil, a new winner will be drawn.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!

Please continue to our latest post below...

Today's workshop photos

I'm back with the photo's from today's workshop, embossed frames.  As I didn't think about taking photos earlier, these show the almost finished frames.  I'll post them in the order I took them...

Stef at work, precision!  Even the cool toolz matched her frame:)  Stef's just fixing one of the first UTEE trickles that pulled her frame together.

Jill Boulton at work, a thoughtful work of art coming along here, with lovely colours, detail and texture!

Janet at work, quietly creating before her looming night shift, starting from 3pm (yes Janet had to leave us early), I don't know how she did all this in a day and also managed to go on to work that shift.    A true crafter!!!

Michelle at work, happy in a VERY creative mind of her own!

Michelle and Janet (look at the concentration!)

Stef and Jill Boulton (deep in creative thought!)

Jill (above) holds workshops with us but today she had a chance to play herself!

Now the finished creations.  Janet followed the time theme making shrink plastic clocks, they all had a go at making those.  Apart from time/clock images, Janet's also included a textural design, it is the mesh from the AOD Floral 1 stamp sheet it worked so well with the mica/PPA mix, the blue/green really stands out.  The other stamp is from Hero Arts, Time to stamp.

Stef's pink, purple and bronze frame.  Stef used the Hero Arts big flower stamp, it is brilliant with UTEE!  Stef also used trickled UTEE which created a lovely finish.  I expect this frame will adorn a wall in Stef's new home, I also expect it will have lots of feathers added beforehand:)  I know her so well!!

Michelle's time themed frame is still a work in progress as she will be adding the hands to the large clock and finishing off the inside, who knows, Michelle may even decide to put the original mirror back, but with a twist I bet, I also bet she is working on it at home as I type, there is a reason why she is named the Midnight Crafter!! The stamps are Hero Arts big clock, the time to stamp background and the big flower (top RHS), doesn't that flower stamp look great in different colours of UTEE!

And last, but certainly not least, Jill's frame, again a work in progress as Jill has a particular coloured paint at home that she wants to add to it.  Jill followed the time theme as well which was loosely based around using the elements I used in the card I made last week.

They are all different but with mainly the same products used. 

Other items used were Moonglow and Pearlex mica powders mixed with PPA (perfect paper adhesive) which makes a shimmery, archival glue/paint, which will make them long lasting. Ranger acrylic dabbers, Distress inks, Moonglow two-tone embossing powders, Cuttlebug embossed metal and card cogs, Tim's cogs and game spinners, shrink plastic cogs, beadazzles, seed beads, various sprinkly embellishments, glitter glues, and UTEE cog embellishments.  I think that is about it.

Thanks again ladies for a lovely day!

Jill

A brilliant day!

Just a shortish post for now to say what a brilliant day it's been today.  Woke up to sunshine and it just got better...

We held a workshop today, Embossed Frames, I'll be back another time with some photos to show the frames the ladies made, they were all very different and all wonderful.  I really enjoyed your company ladies, thanks for getting stuck in and giving it all a go! 

When I got home I was thrilled to find out that I have been picked in the top 5 of last week's Allsorts Challenge.  Thank you!

Another fantastic piece of news to tell is that we have a new Design Team member Michelle (Midnight Crafter), welcome to the mad house Michelle!! 

Plus, I now have 401 followers!  Wowser!!  Thank you so much to you all for following my endless waffle, for joining in with the blog candy giveaways etc, and especially for leaving your lovely comments, which I truly appreciate.

So all in all a fab, brilliant, wonderfully lovely day, and I didn't even win the National:)

I'll be back with photos later!

Jill

Something different - a crafty newspaper! Vol. 1 Iss. 1

I couldn't resist ordering this, just plain old curiosity got me, and what a fun new concept this is!  Here's the blurb...

Donna Salazar - Crafty Chronicle Newspaper


• 8 colour pages
• spread size - 24” x 18.5”

One of Donna’s favorite techniques is making paper flowers from vintage books. But finding
vintage books that are acid free (not yellowed), the right paper thickness and with fun content
can be a problem. The “Crafty Chronicle” is the solution. This periodical was designed to be die cut into scallop and flower shapes so that you can make your own paper flowers and it is also ideal for altered art projects. The paper it is printed on was chosen for the way that it reacts with paint and can be formed into flowers. You can create your own unique embellishments with dictionary definitions, classified ads, horoscopes and even the articles on the front page.

Before you start cutting up the paper browse through it...there are tips, techniques and loads of fun content!

What a brilliant idea!!
 
Still reading issue 1, but roll on issue 2!!!
 
It's HERE if you want to give it a try:)
 
Jill

MORE NEW TIM STUFF is here!

Sorry for shouting!  Just excited to have a few more of Tim's new goodies trickling through.

Patience is a virtue, isn't it?  Says who, not me, no longer...

What's the hold up all about, they know if we hear about nice new stuff that we will want it NOW!  Ahhh, the re-inkers, the accoutrements, trinkets, lockets and keys, the knobs, the box feet, the word keys, the Alteration dies, the embossing folders, the papers and the WHOLE Tim shebang!

The new Distress Ink Pads were worth the wait, how wonderful are the colours?  Happily, we now have even more in stock and can relax on that one!   Our full set offer still stands, £50 for the set of 12 (it's a huge saving) and you know you will want them all eventually anyway...and...now we have the re-inkers too, phew.. at last!

We managed to fulfill a number of the early bird orders of the sets of new distress re-inkers over the last couple of weeks.  I wouldn't even dare to grab a set for myself of those with the orders we had lined up for them, we've sent them out on a strictly first come first served basis.   I think the ladies who ordered early are so lucky, I'm not envious at all.... Honestly!  (I lie!!!!!)  But now I can have them too:))

I was tempted to offer a set for a new blog candy but I think Debbie would have linched me!!!!!  She's very protective with our mail order file, and apparently I was last in the line for a set:(

Anyhow, April was the promised month for lots of things new from Tim, and it's here, some are promised for late April and even May.  

Well, we had a delivery on Wednesday, it was just TOO exciting opening the boxes!! 
Debbie, who is off for 2 weeks for the school hols has had her eye on Tim's new paper stacks.  Having got control of the stock back, I could be a cruel evil boss and get my own back for the re-inker episode by saying she can't have that paper pad she's got a HUGE yearning for, customers come first, but no, Debbie, all is OK, I've hidden one away for you, lol:)  You deserve a treat:)

I can't wait much longer for the rest of the new stuff... can you?  Which products are you most looking forward to getting?

OK, I've teased a bit about what was in those boxes, so here's a bit of a peek.

Now, couldn't I have done with these Timepieces/Watch Faces for Ian's Time Flies card at the weekend!!

The Box Feet...Now there's something to think about using!

The Lockets and Keys...  Oh, totally FAB, they so go with the theme of Tracey's new stamp sheet!

Woo hoo.. Tim's new book, A Compendium of Curiosities offered for £19.99!!!  (Save £5)

Oh, I've added a couple more of the Alteration Sizzix dies to the website that are back in stock.

More new stuff has arrived that I'll tell you about another time, just TOO much excitement for words...

We've an embossed frame workshop tomorrow which I am really looking forward to, lots of UTEE, Distress Inks, Shrink Plastic etc.  

I hope you all have a great weekend too.

Jill

Time Flies! The finished card

Here is the completed easel card for the workshop/tutorial that I have been waffling on about for the last few days.  I made this card for Ian, The Stamp Man, for his birthday.

I've used the new Distress Inks Stormy Sky and Pumice Stone

Hero Arts cling stamps Time to Stamp and Big Clock

Heart Wings Stamp from Tracey's AOD62 Artistic Elements stamp sheet

the rabbit image came from a collage sheet from Elizabeth Golden.

I've also used Tim's new Alteration Gadget Gears Sizzix die, the cogs/gears from Tim's Ideology, and my Cuttlebug amongst other things.

If you are interested in the workshop/tutorial you'll find it all listed in the labels section on my sidebar, it has lots of waffle and plenty of photos, so you can view all the flaws in close up, lol!!

I've decided to enter this into a couple of challenges, my first time of entering challenges.  They are the Allsorts Challenge Blog, the theme being no ready made design papers and also the Simon Says Challenge which is distressed.

Happy Easter!

Jill

Time Workshop/Tutorial Part 6 - More cogs/gears, metal embossing, the final part

The Final Part

I wanted to put some metal through my Cuttlebug but of course I didn't have any handy!  I had some pieces I'd made for Christmas cards that I hadn't used but they were coloured green with alcohol inks.  I'd already embossed them so the reverse although silver was debossed with the patterns.  I thought that as they are gears it wouldn't matter much that they were a bit battered looking.

I left some of them silver and applied latte alcohol ink to parts of others, but this is optional.

While I'm talking about Latte alcohol ink, I found it a great colour match with the Pumice Stone Distress Ink pad, and that the Pumice Stone is about the same shade as Tim's Adage Tickets, just some info I thought I'd share with you!

You can also emboss the metal with Walnut Hollow or Ten Second Studio tools to create the patterns yourself.  These have all been through my Cuttlebug mainly with the Dots and Spots folder.

This photo shows all the other cogs/gears.  I also cut some from silver mirror card, they look black in the photo though!  I Cuttlebugged some of them with the Swiss Dots folder.  The smaller ones are the Shrink Plastic cogs and the coloured card with the Pumice Stone and Stormy Sky are also shown.

MAKING UP THE CARD

The base card is slightly under 8" x 8" (19cms x 19cms).  I didn't have a prepacked large square card so made my own.  I also didn't have any A3 card. So I cut pieces from A4 card, one 1" longer than the size I wanted which I scored at 1" and fixed to the back of the square piece as below.  The longer border that is stamped with the clock background hides the join.

To make the easel fold, score half way across the front of the card

I think you will be able to follow where the pieces of card are fixed so rather than waffle on about that, here are a few tips.

I wanted thin silver edging half way down on the fold on the front of the card to hide the join as I have used distress inks on the bottom panel, it separates the white and the blue.  I wanted another at the back of the panel of base card (where all the cogs are).  Rather than struggle putting glue onto a thin slice of card, I put double sided tape on the back of the silver mirri card then trimmed it down. 

You can get it as fine as you want it this way.

 

 

 

This shows the base panel added  and where I have started with a layers of cogs.  I used silicone glue between the layers to build them up.

If you look at the picture above you will see I've added silver and black nailheads, these are domed glossy self-adhesive dots that look like brads but are less bulky.  They just add a bit more detail.

 

I shaped the rabbit and fixed him in place with silicone glue.

When adding silcone glue to the clocks, avoid the centre area where the brads are so that the hands will still move round.

I have also added a couple of Tim Holtz Ideology Cogs under the rabbits feet so it appears that he is running across them.   They are not shown in the picture above, I will post the completely finished card in another post that shows all the extra detail.

Well, I think that's all I can say about the card.  If there is anything I've missed out you'd better email me!

Many thanks for taking the time to look.

I hope you are having a great Easter weekend.

Jill