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.

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 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!!

Project: Jenni Bowlin Kindergarten Scrapbook Page

 

September is right around the corner, and many of us have little ones who will be attending school for the very first time!  Commemorate this special time with this cheerful Kindergarten Scrapbook Page by Patti Behan, featuring Jenni Bowlin inks, paint dabbers and papers.

Greetings from CHA Summer 2011!

 
Hello from Chicago!  We thought you'd like to see some photos of the goings-on from CHA Summer 2011 so far!

Ranger booth set-up:

The new Archival Ink pads.

The new Picket Fence Distress Stain and Mini Acrylic Paint Sets from Claudine Hellmuth Studio.

The new look of Melt Art.

(Apologies for the blurry shot here, but we thought it was too cool not to show... this is a picket fence where each plank was stained with a different color of Distress Stain!  The sign reads "Whoever dreams of just a white picket fence... doesn't have Distress Stains!")

On Monday we held a "Ranger Avenue" class in which participants decorated identical canvases in the styles of Ranger Signature Designers Jenni Bowlin, Claudine Hellmuth and Tim Holtz.  Here are some shots from that class:

After the Ranger Avenue class, Tim presented a workshop called "The Many Ways of Melt Art."  This workshop focused on several different Melt Art techniques, including creating faux porcelain flowers and shrink mosaic tiles. 

Whew!  So as you can see, we've had a very busy couple of days.  Stay tuned, because in the next day or two we will be sharing two Make-It-Take-It projects straight from our CHA booth, complete with instructions!  And if you are reading this from CHA, be sure to stop by booth #731 to see what's new and say hello!

NEW!! "Jenni Bowlin for Ranger" Ink and Paint Colors!

 
Rolling right along with our new product previews for CHA Summer 2011...

We are happy to introduce three new colors to the "Jenni Bowlin for Ranger" palette: Lavender Sachet, Speckled Egg, and Weather Vane!  These colors are available in dye ink pads, acrylic paint dabbers, and re-inkers so that you can have perfectly coordinated scrapbook pages and projects!

In order to keep the line fresh, fashionable, and in-touch with today's color trends, Jenni will be occasionally updating the palette by introducing new colors and retiring existing ones.  So, we bid a fond adieu to our first three retirees: Chili Powder, Chicken Feed, and Soap Powder.  (Be sure to stock up on these while you still can!!)

Thus, the entire "Jenni Bowlin for Ranger" palette will consist of these 12 colors from September onward:

If you're eager to see how beautifully these new colors will work in your projects, you can check out Jenni's blog where she has already created an awesome scrapbook layout using some of them:

For more information about the new colors of "Jenni Bowlin for Ranger" inks and paints, check out the official press release or visit us at CHA Summer, booth #731.

This is how the Jenni Bowlin Design Team ROLLS...

 

If you're looking for a playful and eco-chic background idea for your scrapbook layouts and handmade cards, you need to check out this clever tutorial on the JBS Inspiration Blog!  JBS Design Team member Doris Sander will show you how to recycle toilet paper rolls (yes, you read that correctly) by using them as stencils for spray inks!  Doris used Jenni Bowlin for Ranger re-inkers in Inkssentials Mini Misters to create the background shown, but you could try this technique with any spray ink, from Adirondack Color Wash to Perfect Pearls Mists!

March Features on RangerInk.com

 
Let's take a look at some of the new features on RangerInk.com that we've been highlighting throughout the month of March!

Welcome Spring with this lovely card that is embellished with delicate, colorful butterflies created from Inkssentials Surfaces Shrink Plastic!  It's sure to set someone's heart all a-flutter!

Let your creativity take flight with tips and techniques from Claudine Hellmuth.  With step-by-step photos, she demonstrates how to layer Archival Inks, Studio Paints and Sticky-Back Canvas using her coordinating Creative Layers Foam & Clear Stamp Sets.  The resulting card is positively tweet-worthy!

And last but not least, Jenni Bowlin has created a video in which she shares some of her favorite techniques using her Jenni Bowlin for Ranger dye inks and acrylic paint dabbers.  Learn how to create clever aged paper effects and how to add a shabby-chic finish to your favorite embellishments!

 We hope you give some of these projects and techniques a try!  Which of the March features are you most excited about?

Project on RangerInk.com: Valentine Wall Art

 
Love is all around, and thanks to Jenni Bowlin, love can be all around your home as well... in a charming piece of wall art!  Throughout the month of February, we are featuring this love-ly project on RangerInk.com, where you can learn to use Jenni Bowlin for Ranger dye inks to create something truly heartfelt.

Now doesn't that just make your heart skip a beat?  What a beautiful gift idea for your sweetie this Valentine's Day!

Do you have any thing crafty planned for Valentine's Day?  Let us know in the comments!