Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas: Coming Soon!

 
It's that time of year again!  Tim Holtz will be presenting the 12 Tags of Christmas on his blog for the 5th consecutive year, starting this Thursday, December 1st!  For those of you unfamiliar with the 12 Tags, Tim designs a holiday tag every day and photographs it, creates a supply list and instructions for it, and posts it on his blog at midnight PST.  It's Tim's way of sharing his love for the holiday season while challenging himself creatively and, hopefully, inspiring you at the same time!  Be sure to check out the amazing results from previous years: 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

While you're checking Tim's blog every day to see that day's tag, be sure to stop by the Ranger blog as well.  A few of us at Ranger will be using Tim's tags as inspiration to create our own projects, so please keep an eye on our blog to see what we come up with.  Plus, we will be picking a random comment from each of our posts during the 12 Tags of Christmas and awarding the lucky author the following holiday-inspired Ranger prize pack:

That's right!  Just for leaving a comment on our blog each day, you could win all of the following:

• an Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• a pack of Inkssentials Surfaces #8 Manila Craft Tags
• a bottle of Inkssentials Crackle Accents
• Distress Stains in Picket Fence, Pine Needles and Fired Brick
• Perfect Pearls Mists in Forever Green and Forever Red
• Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers in Stream and Red Pepper
• an Adirondack Metallic Acrylic Paint Dabber in Silver
• an Archival Ink #0 pad in Sepia
• Embossing Tinsel in Snowflake
• Ice Stickles in Mint Ice
• Distress Stickles in Barn Door
• Liquid Pearls in White Opal
• AND the Distress Ink Winter Seasonal Series, including Evergreen Bough, Festive Berries and Iced Spruce dye ink pads!

Are you excited yet?  We are!  And if that isn't enough excitement, we'll leave you with this clever "trailer" Tim created for this year's 12 Tags:

Happy holiday crafting to all!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

We here at Ranger Industries would like to wish you and yours a very happy and healthy (and maybe even inky!) Thanksgiving.  We are so grateful for your continued support and hope you all have a truly wonderful holiday season.

(Card by Richele Christensen)

Distress Illuminated Autumn Place Cards

 
If you're hosting Thanksgiving dinner or another autumn get-together this year, we've got a great new tip & technique for you to check out on RangerInk.com!

Using Distress Inks, Distress Stains, Grungeboard and various items from Tim Holtz's idea-ology collection and Alterations by Sizzix dies, you can create these handsome illuminated place cards for your guests!

Do you have any crafty plans for your Thanksgiving décor?  Let us know in the comments!

The Ranger Great Pumpkin Challenge! Day 4: The Finale!

 
Recently, we sent some plain ol' craft pumpkins to some of our favorite designers and asked them to create fabulous fall centerpieces out of them using Ranger products.  We've been revealing the beautiful results over the past few days, and today is the grand finalé!

This is what the pumpkins looked like before:

And after.....

 

Tim Holtz's pumpkin:

Tim used Inkssentials Surfaces Metal Foil Tape Sheets, Adirondack Alcohol Ink, Adirondack Alcohol Blending Solution, Adirondack Ink Applicator Tool and Felt, and Archival Ink in Jet Black to create his pumpkin.

 

And, as a special bonus, we gave a pumpkin to Ranger sales director Alain Avrillon.  Alain isn't your everyday crafter, so let's see what he came up with:

Alain coated his pumpkin with Orange Peel and Green Stickles, and accented it with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky-Back Canvas in Natural, Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint in Landscape Green, Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber in Bottle, UTEE and Glossy Accents.

Now, Alain is a BIG fan of dipping things into the giant vats of Stickles that can be found throughout the Ranger factory:

In fact, some of you may remember that he was published in the July/August 2006 issue of Somerset Studio for his Stickled letter "D":

So, we've decided that trying to hold Alain back is a lesson in futility.  Thus, we are excited to announce a new feature on the Ranger blog:

Yes.  Extreme Stickling.  Every week or so, Alain will be dipping random objects into the vats of Stickles, and we will be filming the process and photographing the results for your viewing pleasure.  Stay tuned, you won't want to miss this!!

The Ranger Great Pumpkin Challenge! Day 3

 
Recently, we sent some plain ol' craft pumpkins to some of our favorite designers and asked them to create fabulous fall centerpieces out of them using Ranger products.  Over the next few days we will be sharing the beautiful results!

This is what the pumpkins looked like before:

And after.....

 

Tammy Tutterow's pumpkin:

Tammy embellished her pumpkin with:

• Stickles in Stardust
• Distress Crackle Paint in Clear Rock Candy
• Distress Inks in Walnut Stain, Gathered Twigs, Ripe Persimmon, Peeled Paint and Pine Needles
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium in Matte
• Perfect Pearls Mists in Forever Green, Mandarin and Biscotti
• Archival Ink in Coffee
• Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool and Foam
• Inkssentials Surfaces #5 Manila Tag

 

Richele Christensen's pumpkin:

Richele used:

• Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool and Foam
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium in Matte
• Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabbers in Chicken Feed, Brown Sugar and Fountain Pen
• Distress Crackle Paint in Clear Rock Candy
• Distress Stain in Rusty Hinge, Peeled Paint and Brushed Corduroy
• Perfect Pearls Mists in Bronze

 

We still have one more pumpkin post to patch together!  We'll see you tomorrow with the finalé of the Ranger Great Pumpkin Challenge!

The Ranger Great Pumpkin Challenge! Day 2

 
Recently, we sent some plain ol' craft pumpkins to some of our favorite designers and asked them to create fabulous fall centerpieces out of them using Ranger products.  Over the next few days we will be sharing the beautiful results!

This is what the pumpkins looked like before:

And after.....

 

Wendy Vecchi's pumpkin:

Wendy decorated her pumpkin with:

• Archival Inks in Jet Black, Sepia, Coffee, Vermillion and Olive Green
• Distress Stains in Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Frayed Burlap, Worn Lipstick, Scattered Straw, Fired Brick, Wild Honey and Forest Moss
• Adirondack Metallic Paint Dabber in Gold
• Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Pitch Black and Rust
• Inkssentials Glossy Accents
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium in Matte
• Inkssentials Glue N' Seal
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky-Back Canvas in Natural
• Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator with felt
• Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool with foam
• Inkssentials Mister bottle

She also used the Heat-It Craft Tool and Non-Stick Craft Sheet, of course!

 

Jennifer McGuire's pumpkin:

Jennifer used Seafoam White Embossing Powder on strips of Sticky-Back Canvas, which were covered with Distress Stains and lots of Perfect Pearls Mists!

 

The creativity of our designer friends cannot be squashed!  Tune in tomorrow for more fabulous fall centerpieces!

The Ranger Great Pumpkin Challenge! Day 1

 
Recently, we sent some plain ol' craft pumpkins to some of our favorite designers and asked them to create fabulous fall centerpieces out of them using Ranger products.  Over the next few days we will be sharing the beautiful results!

This is what the pumpkins looked like before:

And after.....

Claudine Hellmuth's pumpkin:

Claudine covered her pumpkin in Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky-Back Canvas in Natural, which she printed lettering on via her ink-jet printer. Accents were added with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint in Sable Brown.

 

Jenni Bowlin's pumpkin:

Jenni created her chic pumpkin with Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabbers in Malted Milk and Chicken Feed, a Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Dye Ink Pad in Brown Sugar, and Perfect Pearls Mists in Perfect Pearl to add a shimmer to the leaves.

 

More gourd-geous pumpkins to come tomorrow, stay tuned!

 

Operation Write Home Blog Hop!

 
Hello blog-hoppers!  Ranger is so proud to participate in Operation Write Home's blog hop in honor of Veterans Day!  Our designers have created some beautiful thank-you cards that we hope you will find inspirational.  (And, if you haven't already, please be sure to check out the blog hop from the beginning to see even more incredible work by the other designers and craft companies involved!)

Ready?? Let's get hoppin'!

Marc Elepano:  For the background, Marc embossed white cardstock with the Mini Rays Texture Fade Embossing Folder and used an Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool to apply Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paint in Modern Red and Smidge of Blue.  The stars were painted with Modern Red, Blank Canvas and Smidge of Blue with Stickles over top, and adhered to the card with Pop-it Shapes for extra dimension.

Inside, Marc used the Typeset Decorative Strip die and Inkssentials Surfaces Metal Foil Tape for his sentiment.

Tim Holtz:  Tim's majestic card was made with an easy two-tone stamping technique. He colored part of his Shabby Stripes stamp with Fired Brick Distress Ink by wiping the pad on part of the stamp, and then applied Faded Jeans to only the top three rays, and simply stamped onto white cardstock.  He then used a Pearl Adirondack Dabber to stamp the tiny stars and edged with Pumice Stone Distress Ink. Simply beautiful!

Jenni Bowlin: Jenni decorated her gallant card inside and out.  She used Cough Syrup Dye Ink with her Torn Paper Border and Cabbage Flower Stamps. She used her Malted Milk Dabber to accent her Vintage Sew On Buttons.

Inside, Jenni used her papers and embellishments to write a heartfelt message to the troops.

Susan Baldwin:  Susan customized our Inkssentials Gloss Cardstock to match her star embellishment.  She rolled an Inky Roller over a Distress Ink Pad and applied the ink to the cardstock.  She then used Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink to stamp the Hero Arts Thank You sentiment and embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder.

Cindy Rescorl:  Cindy created two cards for the troops.  She used Seafoam White Embossing Powder on both her cards, but achieved two different looks. In her Freedom card (top), she swiped some Walnut Stain Distress Ink over top and in the other card she left it as-is. Both uses are striking, don't you think? Then, to get the look of rusted metal for the sign holder she swiped Gathered Twigs Distress Ink over the Tim Holtz Hanging Sign Die and used a Heat It Craft Tool to melt Clear UTEE over top and give it a bumpy texture.

Patti Behan and Bonnie Egenton did a similar technique on their cards using different products. First, they both used Tim Holtz Texture Fades on Core'dinations Cardstock.  Patti sanded hers (top) before lightly swiping a Currant Adirondack Dye Pad over the embossed image.  She then used Distress Embossing Ink and Pine Needles Distress Embossing Powder to stamp "Thankful" with a Tim Holtz Stamp. Bonnie skipped the sanding and swiped a Jenni Bowlin Malted Milk Dabber over her image.  Next, she used a Hero Arts Stamp with Meadow Adirondack Dye Ink and accented with Bisque Liquid Pearls.

Terry Horvath:  Terry's background was made using the Patti Splat Technique, with Denim and Red Pepper Adirondack Dabbers. Terry also backed Ideaology Findings with Core'dinations Cardstock and put Glossy Accents inside the the cutout portion of the findings.

Thanks to all the designers who participated!  We are very proud to send these cards to the troops and to support Operation Write Home in their amazing cause.

Hop to the next blog!!

Tammy Tutterow's "Frosty Deboss" Technique

Head over to our friend Tammy Tutterow's blog for an awesome technique that would be perfect to use on all your wintery papercrafts this season!  Tammy used a Texture Fade embossing folder along with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint, Distress Stains, Winter Seasonal Distress Ink and Perfect Pearls Mists to create a frosty debossed effect.  You've gotta check this one out!

Coming soon to the Ranger Blog...

 
You'll definitely want to stay tuned to the Ranger blog over the next two weeks because we have a lot of great things planned!

On Friday 11-11-11, Veteran's Day, we will be one of 11 craft companies participating in a blog hop organized by Operation Write Home.  This wonderful organization sends blank, handmade greeting cards to our troops deployed overseas so that they can write home with them, and we are so honored to have been invited to participate.  The theme of the blog hop is "thank you cards," so stay tuned to the Ranger blog to see the cards we've created for the troops!  To read more about this inspirational cause, check out the OWH Stars & Stamps blog (the starting point of the blog hop). 

Then, all next week, we will be presenting the Ranger Great Pumpkin Designer's Challenge!  We've given craft pumpkins to some of our favorite craft designers, including Jenni Bowlin, Richele Christensen, Claudine Hellmuth, Tim Holtz, Jennifer McGuire, Tammy Tutterow and Wendy Vecchi and asked them to transform them into fall centerpieces using Ranger products.  We can't wait to share the incredible results with you!