Ranger's Easter Egg Designer's Challenge! Day 4

 
This week, we are presenting the results from Ranger's Easter themed Designer's Challenge: we gave craft eggs to some of our favorite designers and crafty employees, and asked them to decorate the eggs for Easter using Ranger products.

Tim Holtz:

• Inkssentials Surfaces Metal Foil Tape Sheets
• Adirondack Alcohol Inks
• Inkssentials Cut n' Dry Foam
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Sprocket Gears

Tim's steampunk egg began as a paper mache egg, which was covered in pieces of Metal Foil Tape.  Texture and holes were added, and then the metal was inked with Alcohol Inks using Cut n' Dry Foam.  Finally Tim burnished off the inks to create an industrial look, and the idea-ology gears were added as a finishing touch.

 

Alain Avrillon:

• Stickles - Waterfall
• Melt Art™ Melting Pot®
• Melt Art™ Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel™
• Melt Art™ Heat It Inks
• Melt Art™ Mold N' Pour
• Inkssentials™ Cut N' Dry Foam
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium - Matte

Ranger's Sales Director and Extreme "Stickler" Alain Avrillon dipped a styrofoam egg in Waterfall Stickles, and then used Multi-Medium to glue on a bunny made from UTEE and Heat It Inks.  (There is a video on the Ranger website that shows how this adorable bunny was made.)

And for those of you who can't get enough of Alain's Extreme Stickling antics, we will be presenting a brand-new installment of the series on Monday, so watch this space!

We at Ranger hope you all have a hoppy Easter and Passover weekend!  Enjoy!

Ranger's Easter Egg Designer's Challenge! Day 3

 
This week, we are presenting the results from Ranger's Easter themed Designer's Challenge: we gave craft eggs to some of our favorite designers and crafty employees, and asked them to decorate the eggs for Easter using Ranger products.

Debbie Tlach:

• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Black Gesso
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint - Blank Canvas, Dab of Yellow, Landscape Green, Classic Teal, Dash of Red, Smidge of Blue
• Perfect Pearls - Sunflower Sparkle
• Vintaj Glaze
• Stickles - Star Dust

Debbie made this stunning Russian-style egg by applying Claudine Hellmuth Studio Black Gesso to a carvable egg, and she hand painted her flowers with Studio Paints, accenting with Perfect Pearls and Stickles.

Bonnie Egenton:

• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints - Sky Blue, Yellow Pastel, Painterly Pink
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Brushes
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Inkssentials Heat it Craft Tool
• Liquid Pearls - Orchid, Mint Green
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium - Matte
• Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix Texture Fades Embossing Folders and Vagabond Machine

Bonnie started out with craft foam and cut out egg shapes.  She ran them through the Vagabond machine in Embossing Folders and gessoed them, before painting with Studio Paints and Liquid Pearls. She then formed the eggs into a wreath by gluing them in a circle with Multi-Medium.

Patti Behan:

• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Brushes
• Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber - Lemonade
• Vintaj Patinas - Opalite, Ruby, Jade, Onyx, Moss, Amethyst
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Tim Holtz idea-ology - Foliage, Memo Pin

Patti gessoed a Styrofoam egg and then painted it with an Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber.  The cheerful idea-ology Foliage accents were colorized with Vintaj Patinas.

Only one more day of Designer Eggs to go!  But don't crack under the pressure, there's plenty of time to be inspired before Easter!

Ranger's Easter Egg Designer's Challenge! Day 2

 
This week, we are presenting the results from Ranger's Easter themed Designer's Challenge: we gave craft eggs to some of our favorite designers and crafty employees, and asked them to decorate the eggs for Easter using Ranger products.

Jenni Bowlin:

• Inkssentials Mini Misters
• Inkssentials Glossy Accents
• Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Reinker - Stick Candy, Cough Syrup, Lemon Drops
• Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabber - Malted Milk
• Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Dye Ink Pad - Stick Candy

Jenni painted wooden eggs with her Malted Milk Acrylic Paint Dabber, and accented them with colorful butterflies.  The butterflies were made by mixing various reinkers with water in the Mini Mister and giving them a spritz.

Terry Horvath:

• Inkssentials Manila Cardstock
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Tissue Tape
• Inkssentials Glue n' Seal - Matte
• Distress Stain - Antique Linen
• Distress Stickles - Picket Fence

Terry started out with a styrofoam egg and paper mached it with Glue n' Seal and Tissue Tape.  She then gave it a wash of Antique Linen Distress Stain and used Picket Fence Distress Stickles to add some sugary sparkle to her flowers.

Wendy Vecchi started out with a paper mache egg and used the following to make her magnificent creation:

• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Inkssentials Heat it Craft Tool
• Inkssentials Blending Tool with Foam and Felt
• Inkssentials Wonder Tape
• Inkssentials Glossy Accents
• Adirondack Pigment Ink Pad - Snow Cap
• Archival Inks
• Perfect Pearls Mists
• Adirondack Snow Cap Mixative
• Adirondack Alcohol Ink
• Distress Stains
• Distress Stickles
• Distress Inks
• Distress Markers
• Inkssentials Surfaces Specialty Stamping Paper

If you are still scrambling, trying to come up with some ideas for Easter décor of your own, never fear!  We have even more egg-citing creations to share tomorrow!

Ranger's Easter Egg Designer's Challenge! Day 1

 
We at Ranger hatched a really egg-cellent idea for an Easter themed Designer's Challenge: we gave plastic and styrofoam eggs to some of our favorite designers and crafty employees, and asked them to decorate the eggs for Easter using Ranger products.

Ready to see the results?  Then let's get crackin'!

Teresa Natividad:

• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Black Gesso
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Artist Brushes

Teresa painted her egg with Black Gesso, and once dry, she used colored chalks to draw her design.

Susan Baldwin:

• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints: Blank Canvas, Sky Blue, Landscape Green, Dab of Yellow, Yellow Pastel, Sable Brown
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium - Matte
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Artist Brushes
• Tim Holtz by Sizzix On The Edge Die - Twigs
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Tissue Tape - Composer

Susan paper mached a plasic egg using paper towels soaked in a mixture of water and Multi-Medium.  Next, she painted the egg with Studio Paints, cut twigs from cardstock and painted them Sable Brown.  She wrapped Composer Tissue Tape where the colors met on the egg, glued the twigs on top with more Multi-Medium, and then painted forsythia flowers on the branches using Dab of Yellow and Yellow Pastel Studio Paints.

Claudine Hellmuth:

• Claudine Hellmuth Studio White Gesso
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Multi-Medium - Matte
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Artist Brushes
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky-Back Canvas - White
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints - Modern Red, Classic Teal
• Assorted scrap newspaper and papers to create the paper mache bunny
• Photocopy of handwriting to paper mache the egg

Claudine made a paper mache bunny and painted him with her Studio Paints.  She paper mached a plastic egg to create an Easter basket complete with a Sticky-Back Canvas handle.  Sticky-Back Canvas accents were added to the basket and painted with Studio Paints.

Stay tuned!  We've got even more great egg designs for you to lay your eyes on tomorrow!

New Year's Organization

 
Happy New Year, everyone!!  So let's see a show of hands: how many of you have made New Year's Resolutions to finally organize your craft space?

Wow, that's a lot of you!

Never fear, Ranger is here to help.  We have a plethora of organizational products and tools that will help you to sort your crafting stash.

For example, we have the Inkssentials Craft Spinner (which can be stacked up to three tiers high) for keeping your Ink Blending Tools, Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, Jenni Bowlin for Ranger Paint Dabbers, Adirondack Alcohol Inks, Stickles, re-inkers and more within easy reach:

We also have free, printable labels available for download from our website, so you can label the sides of your ink pads for easy retrieval:

We even have blank color charts that you can fill in with the colors of inks, paints, Stickles and more that are currently in your collection:

Our fans are pretty clever and innovative when it comes to organizing and storing their favorite Ranger products, too!  Check out some of these great ideas that we found online:

Christie Hund affixed a metal strip under her crafting cabinets and attached all of her Stickles bottles using magnets. Gravity keeps the Stickles ready to use at any time!

Ron Wilhelm has a different solution for upside-down Stickles storage: PVC couplings glued together in a honeycomb-like arrangement!

Ron uses PVC pipes to hold Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, too!

So let us know, Ranger fans: in what clever ways do you store and organize your favorite Ranger goodies?  Let us know and on January 6th we will select a winner, who will receive:

...a Tim Holtz idea-ology Trinket Case AND...

...a Tim Holtz idea-ology Cargo Case!

Post pictures of your crafty solutions on our Facebook wall, too!  We'd love to see them, and you just might inspire a fellow Ranger fan to get organized in 2012.

12 Days of Ornaments! Day 12

 
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!  OK, we know some of you like to wait til the last minute, but... this is it!  This IS the last minute!  So let's get these holiday ornaments all wrapped up for 2011, yes?  It's the final day of Ranger's 12 Days of Ornaments!

Diane Spiak's 2011 bauble was created with:

• Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink
• Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator and Felt
• Adirondack Pigment Pad in Snow Cap
• Stickles in Crystal
• Inkssentials Glossy Accents
• Inkssentials Surfaces Shrink Plastic
• Inkssentials Heat It Craft Tool
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix Carved Ornaments Movers & Shapers Die and Vagabond Machine
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Grungeboard Mixed Minis
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Stuff to Say Stamp Set

Debbie Tlach painted a glass ball with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso and dripped Stickles in Christmas Red, True Blue, Eucalyptus, Waterfall, Star Dust, Platinum and Lagoon, and Ice Stickles in Arctic Ice, Grape Ice and Crystal Ice.

Well, that does it for this year's ornaments, everyone!  We hope we inspired you to create some ornaments of your own and to share them with your friends, family and loved ones.  Don't forget to leave comments on Friday's post and yesterday's post in addition to today's, because we will be drawing winners once we're back in the office on Monday.

Happy holidays to all!!

12 Days of Ornaments! Day 10

 
Welcome to Day 10 in Ranger's 12 Days of Ornaments series!  Only two days left to get all those ornaments crafted before St. Nick arrives!  (No pressure or anything...)

Teresa Natividad's pearly, dimensional Geo ornament was created with:

• Inkssentials Surfaces Manila Cardstock 12x12
• Tim Holtz Distress Pads in Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves
• Tim Holtz Distress Stains in Dusty Concord
• Perfect Pearls Mists in Cappuccino and Bronze
• Inkssentials Heat It Craft Tool
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Inkssentials Craft Scraper
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Plain Grungeboard

That's not ribbon wrapped around Bonnie Egenton's ornament: it's embossing powder on top of Wonder Tape!  This deceptively easy project was made with:

• Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Inks in Pink Sherbet, Raspberry and Wild Plum
• Tim Holtz Adirondack Alcohol Ink Metallic Mixatives in Pearl and Gold
• Adirondack Alcohol Ink Applicator and Felt
• Inkssentials Wonder Tape
• Queen's Gold Embossing Powder
• Inkssentials Heat It Craft Tool
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet

Graphic designer Lisa Bihuniak's typographic ornaments were created with:

• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Acrylic Paints in Charcoal Black, Dash of Red and Blank Canvas
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Matte Multi-Medium
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Artist Brushes
• Stickles in Candy Cane

Congratulations to our newest winner from yesterday's post: Bunnyfreak!

"Everyday you guys surprise me with more great ornament ideas. I am just wowed."

For a chance at winning a Ranger prize pack of your very own, just hit the lil' "comment" button below and show us some holiday love!  We will be announcing the winners from Days 10, 11 and 12 after Christmas when our Ranger "elves" are back in the office... so you have even more days to get those great comments in!  Good luck!

12 Days of Ornaments! Day 7

 
We're in the homestretch, everyone: only 6 days til Christmas! Did you all have a busy weekend of crafting, shopping and gift-wrapping?  Well don't count your to-do list as finished just yet, because Ranger's still cranking out the ornament inspiration all the way til Christmas!

Debbie DiStefano's cheerful angel ornament was made with:

• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Sticky-Back Canvas
• Perfect Pearls Mists in Perfect Pearl
• Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder in Perfect Pearl
• Stickles in Golden Rod
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Regal Adornments

Patti Behan made a shabby chic ornament with:

• Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Worn Lipstick
• Stickles in Platinum
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Perfect Pearls Mists in Pink Gumball and Sunflower Sparkle
• Tim Holtz idea-ology Baubles and Trimmings

We've got three days of comment winners to announce, too.  Congratulations to:

Day 4: Barbara Washington: "More fabulous inspiration. Love the stained glass technique ornament. The ornament wreath is one of those 'Why didn't I think of that?' projects...so cool."

Day 5: Ellie knol: "Amazing how each day it is so different and yet so beautiful, LOVE them all!!"

Day 6: Karenajo: "What a clever idea to personalize an ornament by using an initial - very pretty! Cindy's 3D ornament is very striking, elegant ! Thanks for sharing such great ideas with all of us!"

Don't forget to comment on today's post for a chance to win a Ranger prize pack of your very own!

12 Days of Ornaments! Day 6

 
Sunday Funday!  Hello Ranger fans!  We are happy to present Day 6 of our 12 Days of Ornaments! (Wow, halfway through already?!)

Kelly Schwartz created a lovely monogram ornament with:

• Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers in Snow Cap and Pearl
• Liquid Pearls in Platinum Pearl
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet

Cindy Rescorl made this 3D ornament by diecutting multiple ornaments, folding them in half and gluing them together with Wonder Tape. She used:

• Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Clear Rock Candy, used to create homemade snow
• Claudine Hellmuth Studio Artist Brushes
• Tim Holtz Winter Seasonal Distress Ink in Iced Spruce
• Clear Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)
• Tim Holtz Distress Stain in Broken China
• Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Picket Fence
• Stickles Glitter Glue in Silver
• Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool and Foam
• Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet
• Inkssentials Wonder Tape
• Inkssentials Heat it Craft Tool
• Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix Carved Ornament #2 Die, Snow Flurries Texture Fade and Vagabond Machine

We'll be selecting our winners from the weekend's ornament posts tomorrow morning, so be sure to post a comment if you haven't already done so!  You could win a prize pack from Ranger just for leaving a comment on our blog!

12 Days of Ornaments! Day 5

 
Happy Saturday, everyone!  We're back with more craft-acular Ranger goodness for your ornament-making pleasure!  Welcome to Day 5 of our 12 Days of Ornaments!

Cindy Rescorl made this dazzling rosette ornament with:

• Inkssentials Surfaces Metal Foil Tape Sheets
• Inkssentials Wonder Tape
• Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix Paper Rosette Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die and Vagabond Machine 

Terry Horvath's wishful star ornament was created with:

• Inkssentials Glue N' Seal in Matte
• Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers in Pearl and Snow Cap
• Stickles in Platinum
• Inkssentials Glossy Accents
• Archival Ink Pad in Jet Black
• Tim Holtz idea-ology: Fractured Doll, Classic Adornments, Fanciful Accoutrements, Facets, and Baubles
• Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection Letters to Santa Stamp Set

We'll be announcing the winner from yesterday's ornament post on Monday, so be sure to leave a comment on that post, as well as on this one, for a better chance at winning a Ranger prize pack!