Thursday 28 April 2011

TIM HOLTZ BLOG CANDY - Winner Announcement!!!



Thank you to everyone that entered our Tim Holtz Blog Candy Giveaway!

I'm pleased to announce...

That the lucky winner is...

No: 76     Maggie H

Congratulations Maggie!!!

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

It's a nice long break ahead for most but we are open tomorrow and Saturday so if you are around Skipton this weekend and wish to call in we are open from 11am - 4pm both days.

We've got nice new things in stock, including lots of Tim's new bits and pieces!!

Also, we have great new special offers starting in the shop tomorrow, there are lots of buy one get one free bargains, including most of the 50% bargains, so there are mega discounts to be grabbed on lots of things!!!

Thanks again to those that entered to win the blog candy, sorry you couldn't all win

I hope you all have a good weekend

Jill

Friday 22 April 2011

New Challenge - Can you RESIST it?


Crikey that fortnight flew by again...

It's Lisa's turn to host this challenge and the theme this time is resist techniques.

I've a few resist techniques on this card, the photo below shows 2 of them, I used Tim's new Distress Stains on the new Kraft paper, the papers have a pre-printed resist pattern on them, this piece has words and numbers in resist.  I also embossed the Blank Canvas Framie 5 stamp with white embossing powder and inked over the top with distress ink.


There's a lot of texture on this card as I used a ribbed card for the base 8" x 8" card and coloured it with Distress Stains.  I also used Tim's compass mask.


The green card at the bottom of the picture below is from Tim's new Core'denations Distress Paper Pad that has a lovely texture to it too.


Another piece that has resisted, is the anaglypta wallpaper below, I used Distress Stains on it and it worked really well.  Sorry the photo isn't very good!


I added an old piece of map with a game spinner and cog, the stickers are 7 Gypsies that we have in the shop.


I couldn't help but add these cogs to the bike wheels, the back wheel looks a bit wobbley here!


And finally, the card when closed


I used quite a few products on this card, they are:

Tim Holtz Ideo-logy - game spinners and sprocket gears
7 Gypsies stickers - from shop

I hope you will join in with our challenge, you have 2 weeks to Resist It!!

Jill

Thursday 21 April 2011

Our new challenge starts tomorrow - can you RESIST it?

Please pop in for a visit to our Challenge Blog tomorrow for details of our next challenge, Resist Techniques, that is being hosted by our Design Teamie Lisa.  If you are not sure about resist techniques then we will be pointing you in the direction of some tutorials to help.


In my last post I did mention about showing a rare photo of Ian, well, here's Ian and I after a demo day.  I can't remember the year but going by the fact that Amanda and Monica are in the background I think it will be about 8-9 years ago.  


Talking about popping in, just to let you know that we will be open on Good Friday from 10am - 4pm and Saturday from 11am - 4pm,  So do pop in if you are out and about around Skipton. We will be closed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  

Have you entered to win our Tim Holtz blog candy yet?  
If not, get a move on, as it ends on Tuesday at 9pm!

I hope you have had a lovely day today in this lovely sunshine!

Jill

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Anyone remember our original little Aladdin's Cave?


I came across a couple of old photographs the other day and thought I'd show them here.  I've had to scan them so they aren't brilliant but I've shown them to a few customers who I thought may remember our time there.  It's so nice to know that some of our original customers are still making cards and remember this time:)

It is strange for us now though that the children that visited us are now coming back with their own children!  Gosh we're getting old, and just look how young I looked in the photo!!!!!

I believe the photo above would have been taken in about 1991-1992.  This was our first proper permanent base.  We had started selling rubber stamps at craft fairs and shows at weekends around the country before setting up permanent midweek stands at craft centres, firstly in Ilkley, then we expanded a little and Ian opened another in Skipton.

After a few years we took the chance of taking on this teeny weeny kiosk in Craven Court, where we tried and pretty much succeeded to fit everything in, honestly it was amazing how much we managed to fit into that space, if I remember correctly it was about 8 ft x 10 ft!!  It really was an Aladdin's cave.

We had a removable wooden 'window' that we took down each morning and we'd put up our sample cards.  It was great for demonstrating and Ian would have crowds around him and there were often queues to get in to actually shop!

On Saturday evenings at 5pm we would close and have our own little 'supermarket grab', we had an hour to pack everything up and load the car ready to take as much as possible to craft fairs on the Sunday before they closed the shopping centre at 6pm.

We didn't have a van at the time so we had to unpack the car when we got home and then reload it again in the morning, sometimes at 5am if we had to head to Scarborough, Bridlington or Blackpool.  Our weekends at Leeds or Accrington were like having a lay in!  We did the same in reverse on the Sunday evening and Monday would be restock day.  We had one Sunday off a month... I do wonder how we did all that for so long!

Maybe it was because we LOVED it, Ian was demonstrating embossing all day every day and as it wasn't even considered a hobby when we started, he did a grand job convincing people it was a good thing to do.  As I'm sure you are all aware now, it's a brilliant hobby and other people loved it back then and kept coming back.

Nobody had showed us what to do and we had to work it out ourselves, when I look at those cards that are draped around the shop now I can see how primitive they were at the time.

I remember that the photo was taken, just before we closed one night, it was for a magazine article and we had been busy all day so it was a last minute thing.  No taking a photo and emailing it over back then, it was relying on getting it off to be processed, then hoping the best with the photo and the post!

I spotted in the photo that we did have Personal Stamp Exchange stamps then, anyone remember them?  Weren't they just the BEST quality stamps ever, truly the Rolls Royce of stamps.

I got all nostalgic looking through the box of photos so I may bore you with more!  It was especially lovely to see photos of times shared with customers who became friends over the years, there's loads of great memories especially from our demo days, so maybe I should continue with my nostalgic ramblings.

I think the next photo I share will be a rare one of the Stamp Man, Ian himself!!!  He hates his photo being taken, there's not many of them about... should I show it??

Jill

Wednesday 13 April 2011

AOD Framies 5 - Antique Script and Keys - Small


Another quick combination of the Framies 5 and Nestie Labels 5 die.

The background of the card is looking more lilac here than the pale purple that it is in real life, never mind!  If you look carefully you can just about see that the darker purple panel has been embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.

I used the following products for this card along with a metal key embellishment from the shop.


I hope you're having a great day!

Jill 

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Framie 5 card... A blank canvas for a boy's card


Boy cards are really hard to make, aren't they?  


I kept looking at this simple little easel card and thought it needed something more, but by adding the rotating sprocket gear embellishments and a little movable muse token to fiddle about with too, surely that's enough to keep a boy happy with this card!

The Framies 5 Blank Canvas stamp was embossed with silver embossing powder and cut out with the Nestabilities Labels 5 largest die.  The silver embossing really popped out when inked afterwards with the distress inks.



I used the follow stuff...

Nestabilities Labels 5 large die to cut the main shape and a smaller die for the wording piece
7 Gypsies paper pad in shop
Pewter metal swirls in shop

Many thanks to everyone that has joined in with our latest Tim blog candy giveaway so far, and also those of you that have entered our latest fortnightly challenge, we have an embossing theme this time, so please do join us if embossing is your thing.  

We have a bird theme going on over at the ATC swap blog this month that you are welcome to join in with too!  

Hoping your week is going well!

Jill

Friday 8 April 2011

New Challenge - Embossing!


The last 2 weeks have flown by and here we are again at the start of a new Stamp Man challenge.

This time the theme is embossing, of any kind you fancy using, with any technique.  Use embossing powders, or even embossing stencils and paste, your choice.

We have a new Design Team Member, Neil of Neelz Expressionz, who is our host for the next fortnight, so please do visit our challenge blog to read all about it


My project started off as a plain looking address/birthday book, if you flip it over, the cover is for the address part, so I had 2 covers to alter.  

I wanted each cover to be a little different to make it easier to open it on the right side.  

I gathered some bits together to use, I've been itching to play with Tim's new distress stains, so picked the nearest colours that are available to match the embossed piece I wanted to use.


Here's the list of things I used: 
7 Gypsy stickers - sale room in shop.


I used Moonglow 2 tone embossing powder in poinsettia red/green onto 2 pieces of thick Magenta 2" square chipboard.  You can see how thick it is in the photo below and when I say red/green ep, I mean the red and the green in the same jar!  (When you tilt the finished piece you can see red, green or both colours).

I added a few layers of the magic powder before stamping into it with Hero Arts S5449 Fabulous Flourish.


I love this poinsettia red/green powder!! 


I also loved the texture of the original book cover so I didn't want to cover it all in paper.  


I painted it with gesso as the cover was coated and I also wanted to start with a blank canvas.

Once it was dry I got down to playing with the stains and other bits and pieces.  The next 2 photos show the embossing on Tim's new Kraft Resist paper, I used the stains and the embossing that is already on the papers just pops through, so there is more embossing that the main UTEE piece.  It wasn't easy to photograph but you can just see it.


This photo shows it a little better, the writing is resisting!  There is also some script, in black, that comes pre-printed on there too.  It's just one of the papers in the pad.  The sheets are quite thick, so excellent quality,  and I can see it is going to be a joy to use in future.


Here are the finished covers.  I used some 7 Gypsy stickers, along with a B alphabet sticker, so I know it's the birthday side.  I'm terrible about having things to fiddle with, especially on the phone and as I usually have it nearby I had to have some moving parts on there.  I can open and close the hinge clip, spin the game spinner and swivel the photo tab (the photo tab is from the same range as is in the Blog Candy prize).

I also added some pieces of a page from an antique account book that I have been stroking for FAR TOO LONG... too long for my own good (I must have been treasuring it for at least 15 years!).... So, I've now used a few pieces of it and I can still stroke and enjoy it :D


I added one of Tim's new pen nibs to the address cover, I will probably regret it when I keep catching myself on it, but hey ho, it HAD to be included!

The colours aren't showing too well in the photos but I think you can see enough.

I hope you will join us in our new challenge.

*  *  *  *  *

I've had a bit of a move around on our website this week, I've added some new things too, plus I'm trying to get more of what we do stock in the shop on there.  I hope you will be able to find things OK, it's my intention to make things easier to find, especially all the Tim stuff as there is so much of it now!  We'll see how this way works.  Basically I've put Tim and all the other Ranger designers into a Ranger section, it might take a bit of getting used to!!

Jill

Tuesday 5 April 2011

TIM HOLTZ BLOG CANDY - NOW CLOSED!!



We haven't offered any blog candy for a while and I thought it would be nice to start this during our Anything by Tim challenge (the actual challenge ends on 7th April) so I've gathered another bunch of loveliness of Tim's stuff from the shop worth over £60!

There are newly released products included, plus a few of the items are from way back, some of Tim's first design products!  The last winner of our Tim blog candy giveaway was happy to win those rare items:D

This time the prize consists of:

6 sheets of Tim Holtz 8" x 8" double-sided papers
TH Alterations Texture Fades Burlap and Swirls set of 2
TH Ideology (just released) Alpha Parts - Ransom
TH Stamp Set - Take Flight
TH Distress Stains (just released) - Antique Linen, Fired Brick and Broken China
TH Frostz  2" Circlez (can be used with alcohol inks)
TH Metalz Snapz (copper)
TH Metalz Large Photo Anchorz with large brads (mixed metals) - with family words
TH 2 3/8" Metal Disks

Please enter your details using Inlinkz 
(comments will not be included as entries)

You MUST also place the Blog Candy picture (above) into your sidebar, and link it back to this post until the prize has been claimed in order to qualify for a chance to win the prize.

One entry per person only, duplicate entries will not be counted.

This candy will run from now until
 9pm (GMT) on Tuesday 26th April 2011.

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

You will need to call back to see if you have won.  
You may wish to join as a follower to receive a reminder/the winner announcement post

If the prize has not been claimed by midday Sunday 1st May, a new winner will be drawn.




Monday 4 April 2011

NEXT WORKSHOPS


Saturday 9th April - Alcohol Ink Techniques with Janet and Michelle





Saturday 16th April Never Ending Book with Gill Wilson




The above classes are £20 for the day

Please click HERE for more information and to book your place! 

And HERE for general workshop information

We will add more dates soon, so please call back another time!