New challenge - Take ANY 3 colours - Christmas theme

I'm a little late posting my card for our new challenge, I adore this stamp set and was happy that I could use it with T!m's on the edge snowflake die along with a  number of extra snowflakes that I punched.  I added self-adhesive gems to the centres and painted on icicle glitter glue which finishes them off.  I used the following items:

TH stamps - Reindeer Flight
Distress Inks - Chipped Sapphire and Walnut Stain
TH - Adage Ticket and Hinge Clip
TH - Alterations die - on the edge Snowflakes
Snowflake punch available from the shop
Christmas Wishes greeting from AOD 33 Holly Sprays

Icicle Stickles

Self adhesive round crystals

Here's a few close ups.

I hope you will join us with this challenge!!  The details are given on the challenge blog

Keep safe and warm

Jill

New stuff from Tim!!!

Have you managed to get your Tattered Florals die yet?  Or any of his new ones?  We have a delivery today that contains some of Tim's new products, we don't have many so don't hang about!!

Then there's the new MINI baroque and ornamental dies!

New on the edge dies...

And new embossing folders...

You'll find them HERE

I decided that when we had our few and far between deliveries of the Tattered Florals dies that were delivered over the last months that it would be unfair of me to grab one when I know they have been like hen's teeth to get, I've finally felt we have enough now for me to have one, phew, it's been a LONG wait!!!

I'm saving mine to use for the first time at Saturday's workshop, then the ladies that are coming can share in my delight:)  How sad am I?  Now come on, I know you know what I'm on about!!!!

Jill

PS:  If there are any tattered leaves dies left by Saturday, then I may not have enough will power to resist one of them joining the florals!!

Challenge # 2 Take 2 colours - lime and gold

When you start a project, where do you begin?  Is it focused around something new in your stash, such as a new stamp, ink or paper?

Well, this card started with a lime green ink pad, I was given a couple of samples of a new range of inks to try and one happened to be lime green.  I had made a number of butterflies with Tim's Take Flight Alteration die when demonstrating them but I hadn't made them into cards.  I remembered I had used some lime green fantasy film with gold mirror card and a quick hunt for lime green card or paper and there it began! 

The paper I found was lime and gold glitter paper, how handy was that!  I used the ink pad with one of Kay's Funky Flourish stamps to create the background and a greeting from one of Tracey's stamp sheets Alluring Ladies.  The new ink pads are great, I'll tell you more about them once we have them in stock!!

Jill

The challenges have begun!

Yep, you can now join us to enter our new challenge!

Now, a challenge is a challenge, so I gave myself a good one.  I'd cut and embossed some alcohol inked metal sheet with the Regal Crest die from Tim Holtz and some Cuttlebug folders weeks and weeks ago.  Every time I looked at them no ideas came immediately so I'd quickly moved onto other things.   I decided enough was enough with the looking and stroking of the pieces and I got down and finally made a card with them.

Making cards for men can be a challenge at the best of times, but I felt it had to be a male card with a vintage feel. That was OK as then I could use Moonshadow Ink (a blend of walnut ink and mica powder), they were ideal embellishments for a shimmery Moonshadow Ink background!!  I used Incandescent Copper with the scrunch technique.  When it was completely dry I swiped a VersaMark embossing pad lightly over the peaks of the paper then embossed it with gold embossing powder.

I used various vintage wording papers, 2 of the pieces are from a 1925 newspaper, (which we have in the shop).  The central image is part of a cigarette card but would be great swapped for a small photo of the recipient.

The Cuttlebug folders I used were Victoria for the leaves and banner and the Mini Mosaic Texture for the crest. Copper self adhesive nailhead embellishments have been used in the corners.

Products used:

Tim Holtz Sizzix Alteration Die Regal Crest

Alcohol Inks

Copper Metal Sheet

Moonshadow Ink Incandescent Copper

Gold Embossing Powder

Cuttlebug Folders - Tiny Mosaic Texture and Victoria

Copper Nailheads

I'm glad that I finally used those pieces to make a card, it's so rewarding completing a challenge.  I hope you will join in with us and perhaps find a challenge for yourself whether it be a simple one or a major project you've been meaning to complete.  I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's work.

Have fun!!!

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

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...

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 1 - Shrink Plastic Cogs/Gears

I'm going to work through all the individual elements for the card first.  As I said in my intro post, there are lots of different elements/techniques to get through.  There will be wrong bits, flaws, confessions and some don't do this' along the way, I'm just warning you now not to expect total perfection! 

The card is actually for Ian, The Stamp Man's birthday, of course he's already seen it but there you go.  It's an apt theme for me as I'm alway late, especially with cards for the family (yes Mum!!).  For once this one is early, I may just give it to him late so he won't have any surprises!

Anyway, the photo above shows a selection of just some cogs/gears I made for the card (there's more on cogs/gears another time though).  I have used Tim's new Gears Alteration Sissix die to make  them.  Some that are shown here are made from card and some with shrink plastic.  I'll talk about the card ones another time.

The cogs/gears are quite large, so as well as using them as they are, they are perfect for using  with shrink plastic.

Materials
White, frosted and black Shrink Plastic
Sanding block
Brilliance ink - Starlight Silver
Tim Holtz Gadget Gears

I thought I'd make a start on a fun bit first, I LOVE shrink plastic!  Firstly, I'll mention sizes, (which are approximate), the frosted piece is the smallest cog unshrunk 4cms or 1 1/2", the black has been shrunk and is 1.5cms or 1/2".  I haven't coloured or messed with these at all, I wanted them raw so they are just cut out and shrunk.

The next 2 are the large size, the frosted one is unshrunk and is approx.  3" or 8cms, the shrunk piece is 1 1/4" or 3cms

The medium size is 2 1/4" or 6cms unshrunk or 1 1/4" or 3mm. When shrunk 3/4" or  2cms

I gave the black shrink plastic a light sanding then covered it completely with ink from a Brilliance Starlight Silver ink pad (picture above). 

Brilliance ink becomes permanent when heated so is an ideal ink to use on shrink plastic.  It is a pearlescent ink and gives a lovely galvanised metal effect, especially on the frosted shrink plastic (picture below).

I left some pieces just as they are

These are the completed pieces. I'll be explaining more about shrink plastic in the next post.

Thanks for reading.

I hope you have a Happy Easter weekend!

Jill

AOD 63 Alluring Ladies with (a new set) Icicle and Snowflake Starburst Stains

Well it's not the best of days to be taking photos in the late afternoon here.  It's really grim and stormy outside, and somehow the shadows on the white background appear to be the same shades as those of the card! 

It is made using  Tracey's new stamp sheet Alluring Ladies and the new set of Starburst Stains Icicle and Snowflakes, which is an appropriate theme for the weather for a lot of people today!  Our heavy rain has now turned to sleet, I'm just hoping we don't get the snow.

This new set has identical soft shades the same as the Icicle Creek set but instead of the secondary gold tone it has silver.  It is such a pretty set.  The background is the cling film technique on hammered card.

You cannot see but the mounts and nailheads are silver, so it looks a lot softer in real life.  I have also used my new Sizzix Scrollwork die from Tim for the border, (we still have these in the shop by the way).  It works brilliantly in my Cuttlebug with just the 2 B plates.

I think I will need to take these photos again on a better day as the colours are really much softer and shimmerier than shown.  It was one of the cards I didn't get to complete in time for the Harrogate show, I've a couple more to finish that I've started, time, I wish I had more of it at the moment!

Jill

Tim Holtz Alterations - a little advance delivery!

Maybe I should just whisper this as we only have a few each of an advance order of Tim's new Alterations dies, we did have a small delivery last week but those all went from the shop and at the Harrogate show. 

So don't hang about if you want any of them!  Click HERE to find them.

I suppose that we are just all going to have to be patient for the rest!!

I'm going to announce some blog candy so watch for another post!

Jill