Fabulous Finds Friday — Ranger

The giant Craft & Hobby Show was happening in Chicago, and although I couldn’t be there, I did get some info on new Ranger products. 

Naturally, as a stamper I am always excited at new stamps. So check out these new goodies from Claudine Hellmuth:

These are from her Studio Creative Layers Foam & Clear Stamps. They are taken from hand-drawn images and the clear stamps and the foam stamps are meant to work together or alone. There are six sets. And if you love her Sticky-Back canvas in white, you’ll probably also dig the canvas in the new Natural color.

Ranger also introduced new inks and paint dabbers from Jenni Bowlin. The vintage-tinged colors — with such evocative names as Chicken Feed, Chewing Gum and Malted Milk — complement  her paper line.

Other new Ranger goodies include: 12 new colors of Tim Holtz Distress Stickles (including Barn Door, Tumbled Glass and Victorian Velvet; Perfect Pearls Mists (yay! I won’t have to mix my own!) in 12 colors that coordinate with Perfect Pearls Powder; 15 new colors of Liquid Pearls; and some nifty new surfaces to use them on, including Manila Tags and Manila Cardstock.

Oh, I can’t wait!

Best Wishes Quick Card

Talk about a quick and easy card! This was it:

The flower (Stampendous!) was white embossed on vellum — love that look! — then cut out and glued onto a scrap of black corrugated cardboard. The greeting (Hero Arts) was black embossed.

That’s it! I think it took me longer to write this post than it did to make the card. Thanks for looking. Come back Friday for a sneak peak from CHA, the grand daddy of craft and hobby shows.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Mini Notebooks

Add this to the things I love — notebooks. Especially ones that can fit in a pocket or purse. And double that for anything that I can decorate.

My friend Linda, a former journalist, gave me two delightful pocket-sized Moleskine books that make me feel like a real writer:

Not only do they fit my above criteria, but they come with a story, too. (Oooh, doesn’t this just get better and better?) These notebooks were originally produced by small French bookbinders and were coveted by European artists and writers, including Van Gogh, Picasso and Ernest Hemingway. In 1986, the last manufacutrer of Moleskine, a family operation in Tours, France, closed.

Luckily, more than a decade later, an Italian publisher brought back the line.

Here are my little beauties, unwrapped:

I had them on my desk for a while, where I fondled them a lot and just enjoyed looking at them. Then I decided, “This is stupid! You always SAVE things and never use them….”

So I took a deep breath, decorated one, and stuck it in my purse:

Now I just have to be brave enought to actually WRITE in one! (And work up the courage to decorate the second book.)

(flower: flower by Stampendous, white embossed on pink scrap paper; clear plastic ribbon by Maya Road.) For more on Moleskine, go to www.moleskine.com)

Thanks for visiting!

Robi’s Closet — Coming Out of It

I admit it, I am a saver. Okay, a saver who could easily be labeled a hoarder. I have vowed to clean up my act. So periodically I will go into the deep, dark recesses of my closet and pull out something I have been saving, hoarding, stashing. And use it.  And even give some of it away! I hope to make this a regular feature.

For my first attempt, I pulled out this cute scrapbook set from Hot Off The Press.

I’m not much of a scrapbooker, but won’t these make darling cards? Here I go….

I cut a piece of the scrapbook paper to completely cover the card front, slapped on the pop-up sticker and called it done. But could I leave it at that? Nooooooooooo. So I punched both sides of a white scrap piece (Martha Stewart punch) and stuck that down. Still not enough, so I stamped the birthday cake (Stampin’ Up!) and colored with Sparking H2Os (which photographed with glare. You can’t even see the Ranger Gold Ice Stickles on the cake and candles. Gotta work on those photo skills.) OK, now I could move on. Using a scrap piece I made this:

(stamped images all by Hero Arts. More Stickles, too.)

… and these tags:

Whew! Good day’s work, eh?

I hope you come back next week!

Into the Scrap Pile!

Once again, I have dipped into my scrap pile, determined to clean out my stash.

I pulled out two L-shaped scraps of paper, leftovers from a 12×12 piece of scrapbook paper used for another project.

My only rule:  I had to use it all. (And toss anything under 1 inch!)

I pulled out some white cardstock and just started cutting and glueing the paper to the card, with no plan, no clue as to what I would do next.  Which may have been a mistake.

I got down to a piece about 2 inches square, too small for much… except for punches! So here we go:

(It’s a little blurry….) I was pleased to use this ribbon from Creative Imaginations, which had been hanging from my ribbon rack for ages.  Hearts and sentiment from Hero Arts. And I used red scaps — yay, more scraps gone!

Well, I was so pleased with myself that I continued in the theme, using almost all the ribbon and the rest of the red scrap paper:

(More Hero Arts stamps. Flowers and sentiment are black embossed.)

Now I’m feeling cocky. I pulled out a piano image I had stamped a long time ago at a friend’s house (sorry, I don’t know the company), stamped a background (that came out less than perfect) and added a border, sentiment and pearls. Not my favorite, but here goes:

I think I redeemed myself with a tag and finished the day with a post card using those circles:

(The flower is from Kodomo)

(Cute saying by Inkadinkado; daisy punch EK Success; butterfly punch Martha Stewart; background stamp Hero Arts; dots inside daisy made with Ranger’s new Enamel paint. Blurry photo, my fault.)  

Thanks for stopping by!

Time for a coffee break!

It’s late afternoon… I’m feeling sleepy … tired of working… time for a coffee break!

Made with scraps from my desk — yay! Another small step in cleaning.  All stamps are from Hero Arts. Flowers from Prima. Pearls from Hero Arts. And dontcha love the envelope? Made from a bag that I had been saving forever.

Thanks for stopping by for a coffee break! Now it’s back to work for me…

Fabulous Finds Friday — Pencil Box

Sometimes a gal needs to go off the card and play with something a little sturdier than paper. For me, it’s boxes. I love boxes. I collect boxes. The hubster is annoyed with the amount of boxes I have stashed in the closet! 

So imagine my delight in getting a gift of this lovely little pencil box by Kaisercraft:

 At least I did somethng with this one: 

After putting the box together (uber easy) I lightly sanded it, then painted it with two coats of blue acrylic paint (Plaid Baby Blue Paper Paint). The paper and border are both by Creative Imagination. I applied both using Mod Podge.   And there you go!

It was so much fun, and so fast (except for waiting for the paint to dry) that I want to make another!

See more wood products at www.kaisercraft.net