Tattered & Torn

At long last, deliveries of the latest product from Tim Holtz are now in stock - the new Sizzix dies. Unfortunately stocks are rather low though as the manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the demand. However, we do have some of all the die designs in at the moment. One of the most popular of these dies has to be the Tattered Floral die. It is just soooo useful.

Here's a pic of the project I did in a class taught by the man himself, Tim Holtz earlier this year.

We used the Tattered Florals die which looks like this:

and all the lovely new colours of distress inks. There must be a good couple of hundred of these pieces of artwork floating around in one format or another as Tim's classes are always bursting at the seams with people eager to attend. I was very impressed with this class and loved every minute of it.
We were also very lucky to receive as part of the class Tim Holtz's new book, and was able to ask him to autograph it for us too. Now we were also lucky enough that both Andy and I attended the class so we have a book each. Or did! We have donated one of our signed books to this month's Sir Stampalot Challenge that Brenda and her inspirational team are organising on our behalf.
This month's challenge (closing date for entries is 28th May) is titled "Butterflies and Blossoms" and you can read all about it and enter your project here, at the Sir Stampalot Challenge Blog.

Congratulations to last month's winner - Claire who entered and won with this lovely entry for our theme of "Fantasy":

Claire won a Cricut Machine and extra Cartridge called Pooh Font and was extremely delighted with it.

If you are the lucky winner of this current Challenge, along with Tim's signed book, you'll also get a Tattered Florals die and a host of other Tim Holtz/Ranger products, just look at all this:

Nearly £200 worth of glorious products.
So what are you waiting for, get stamping and join in the fun.

If you are needing some inspiration, then what better way to come and treat yourself and have fun by popping by Sir Stampalot, Peterborough tomorrow, Saturday 15th May to see the magical Crafty Lou in action.

Here's some of the awesome cards she created for her last demo day with us:

this is just so cute, Crafty Lou has used the big Hero Arts set Whats the Scoop, and coloured in with her very own unique style, using versacolour cubes.

I love the addition of coordinating embellishments like this cooking ribbon attached as a tab with the aid of a brad. We sell that ribbon in shop but haven't got it on the website yet, so just give us a bell is you wish to purchase some. And check out the lovely stitched border Crafty Lou has used on her edging.

This is a lovely idea for a recipe card and such a novel gift:

Now you could be fooled into thinking that Crafty Lou likes owls. No idea what would give you that notion:

Again, using Hero Arts stamp designs:

Now, no card can be a "Crafty Lou card" without the additional of
a) cream shrink plastic and
b) the "it's your day" stamp by Hero Arts code : A4981

I love the way she's used the backing paper to incorporate into her design

and the little finishing touches like the tied ribbon wrapped around the balloon strings:

And some of her more recent designs that you may have already seen on her blog (Crafty Lou's Small World) or on the Sir Stampalot online gallery:

So don't forget, Demo Day Sat 15th May, 10am - 4pm with the talented Crafty Lou, free refreshments, free parking and plenty of inspiration so please feel free to bring your camera.


Click here for our events calendar. We may have an added event on Bank Holiday Monday 31st May, just finalising things as we speak, so watch this space.

Hopefully see you tomrrow, click here for directions.
In the meantime, happy crafting.
- janicex