Back to it!!!

Hi Everyone. Hope you are well? Back to the grindstone Today. Had a day off yesterday to recoup my energy from what can only be described as a manic but cope able weekend. As you may be aware it was Pinnacle Crafts Club Members Discount Weekend last weekend, and our members certainly look advantage of the huge 30% discount on offer. We hope you are all enjoying your new purchases and we look forward to seeing you all again very soon..

It is my pleasure to announce that the winner of £50 worth of Pinnacle Crafts Gift Vouchers for the July Club members Draw is..... wait for it....
Lyn Goodhead.
Well Done & Congratulations Lyn. I hope you enjoy spending them...
I would also like to welcome all those Brand New Pinnacle Crafters who joined over the weekend, a bargain to good to miss was one comment, and I can only agree with you...
Sadly, we had to bid farewell to Kristina, who joined us for our Monday Morning lesson. Wishing her Bon Voyage and a safe trip home back to Sweden we presented her with this..

It is just a simple little card with a photo we took when she arrived on Friday..

These little gestures can mean so much and she said it was a lovely little keepsake from her visit and it will go on the shelf with all her other reminders of her times at Pinnacle Crafts...
Today I thought I'd share with you are card which got so many comments over the weekend..

It's a card using the New Shapeabilities Pendants from Spellbinder.
They are fun and so easy to use and even go through the Big Shot or Cuttlebug machines...
Firstly I coloured a piece of White card stock with Chalk. Chalking has proved a big hit with us recently. I prefer to colour the card stock with the chalk first, as if you do it after you have cut the card your applicator can catch on all the edges.. Also if you have embossed it, say with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder then sometimes the chalk can show where the card may have cracked. Chalking the card first just seems to work better..

If you use a light circular motion when applying the chalk you are less likely to over chalk your card which negates the need to seal it afterwards. Many people don't like using chalks as it can look patchy or too bold in places. A light circular motion working in from the sides of the card generally allows the Chalk to be applied evenly. If you want to add more colour, go over the same area's with more chalk. Remember, you can always add more colour, but it is very difficult to take it away!!!
Once coloured, I cut out 2 images from the Fleur De Lis Shapeablity Pendant.

On one piece I stamped my Image using Black StazOn. The Reindeer Image was taken from the New Joyeux Noel Clear Stamp Range from Papermania.

Mount the Stamped shape on top of the blank shape. I used Pinflair Glue to give a little bit of height and dimension,

but Foam Pads would also work.

To add a little bit of Christmas sparkle I applied Star Dust Stickles to the image.
And finally mounted the whole thing (once dry) onto a Bookatrix card..

Don't forget, July's Blog Candy..... Draw will take place on Saturday 01st August.. You could be in with a chance of winning these FREE..

That's around £50 worth of crafting stash just for becoming a follower.. So click here and start following today..

Thanks for checking us out..

From Sweden to Italy

We are taking you on a whirl wind tour of Europe aren't we.. Why? Because we can..
We had an absolutely fantastic day yesterday.. It was the first day of Club Members Weekend and the shop was busy from the get go with club members eager to get their hands on all of our goodies.. The best part of the day for me was the return of 2 wonderful people to Pinnacle Crafts. As I mentioned yesterday, Kristina came all the way from Sweden and spent the whole day with us and with the arrival of Lyn capped the day off.. She has not been well at all and bravely made her way up to see us all. We are all VERY PROUD of you Lyn and now the worst is over... onward and upward matey..
Anyway, today we are off to Italy.

As you may be aware, Joanne completed her final exams this year and is now a qualified Pergamano and PCA (Parchcraft Australia) tutor.. She has a lesson next Sunday 02nd August, god where has July gone!!? and this is what she will be teaching.
The lesson is aimed at Intermediate to Advance Parchment Crafters, So if you are looking for a crafting challenge why not book yourself in for the lesson?
The Columbine also known as (Columbina and Columbino) is a half mask often highly decorated with gold, silver, crystals and feathers. It was held up to the face by a baton or tied with ribbon as with most other venetian masks.
Joanne never fails to impress with her Parchment skills, and yes every single strand has been cut out by hand.. Impressive Non??
Ciao for now...

Svensken är kommer

Hej allihopa,
Svensken är kommer, Roughly translated means The Swede's are coming...
The start of the school holiday's always prove busy at Pinnacle Crafts.. Although some of our regulars venture off on their summer holiday's, their spaces on our lessons are always filled by new faces and returning faces who now find they have the time to come and join us for a little R&R and a bit of crafting..
After a hectic week of teaching over 70 crafters in both Card Making and Scrapbooking, Today, Friday, is the last lesson of the week.. and an extra special one because we have a visitor.. She has flown all the way from Sweden to come and see us.. Now, I know our lessons are good, but all the way from Sweden!!!
It is in fact a lovely lady call Kristina. Her husband was seconded to work for Ford in the UK about 3 Years ago and she came with him. She caught the craft bug whilst she was here and has never looked back.. Although she went back to Sweden about 18 Months ago she has stayed in touch with us and at last she is venturing back into the Pinnacle Crafts fold for an all too brief visit... and what a time to come. She is also a Pinnacle Crafts Club Member, and what is this weekend?? That's right Pinnacle Crafts Club Members 30% Discount Weekend.. What a time to come.. coincidence?? and I thought she came to see us!! You know you can only take one small piece of hand luggage back with you don't you Kristina...!!
Today is going to be a fun fun day!!!..
Take time to remember your friends who are not around you today and they will remember you too. Bonjour to Lin in France x and Lyn (Wed) who has not been well.. X
Rene, you are already here.. but Hi anyway x.. and as I said at the beginning of my post Hej allihopa which means Hello Everyone..
Thanks for checking us out

Hi yaaaa!!!

Hi Everyone..
I had a request to do some cards for some youngsters who are about to take their final test for their Karate Black Belt. I presume the person who requested them is expecting them to pass!!!
Now I know we have pretty much everything you can think of at Pinnacle Crafts, including some Karate toppers which I found.. But these were just too small. Although I have a little time to get these cards done I was struggling for some inspo.. Now I'm not sure if it was divine intervention or not but Yesterday morning I had a delivery, and in that delivery was my new Sports Mania cartridge. Thumbing through the pages guess what I came across... You got it! a Karate Image and all the bits and bobs to go with it... I was requested to do one in Pink, Red, Green and Blue.. The Black one I did for myself to keep as a reference.. Hope you like them and hope that today you too gain some divine inspiration...
One in Pink

One in Green

One in Blue

One in Black

One in Red


Thanks for checking us out...

Blog Candy!!!

Register to win July's Blog Candy..
Papermania Touch of Teal and Touch of Pink Collections..
Contents includes 12"x12" Patterned Papers, 12"x12" Double Sided Papers, Alphabet Stickers, Handmade Toppers, Card stock Sticker Sheets and 3D Stickers in both rangers. In fact around £50 worth of stash, yours for FREE for just following our blog.. Good Luck Everyone.. Winner will be drawn on 1st August 2009..

Stash diet well and truely blown....

I have been good recently, honestly really good!! I knew we had some new goodies on the way and I kept my hands out of all the deliveries. Which in a place like Pinnacles is not an easy task I can assure you as we have deliveries virtually every single day of the week.. But to heck with it, these were a must have.. Now I have just got to find the time to play with them.. My new Hannah Montana and Spongebob Cricut Cartridges, and Brand new Shapeabilities Pendants and Borders. Don't forget you can pass these through the Cuttlebug and Big Shot machines as well..
Oh, and this is Pauline's new toy,

that's right the Electronic Big Shot Machine
Thanks for stopping by and see you soon...

Thank you for the music..

I was asked to make a card for someone who likes music. Apparently she is an elegant lady of a certain age... and yes I did ask the age... it's my job!!!
I am happy to say I am the proud owner of several cartridges, but not many have musical images on them and those that do are all sort of hard rock etc.. Not suitable for this elegant lady of a certain age...
So I looked through what I had, and found some musical notes on Joys of the Season Cricut Cartridge (on the pipers piping button using the layers function)... Whilst looking at this cart I realised it was wrong!!!, wrong!!, never!! I hear you say, or so I thought.. I recited the 12 days of Christmas back to myself (sad I know!) and us Brits have a different order of the days than in the US, well at least different to the person who designed the cartridge.. Same language but different traditions... S'what makes the world go round I guess. Anyhoo, This is what I came up with using the notes and leaf border from JOTS and letters from Storybook.. Here's hoping she likes it...

I'm not sure if I prefer with or without the words.. What do you think??

Thanks for checking us out...

It does what it says on the tin!!!

After a well earned day off, well half a half a day.. Back to it today.. Two Cricut demo's and Two Scrapbooking lessons and still found time to play..
As I said, I actually took half a day off yesterday. A busy Saturday and Sunday in the shop finally took it's toll, on top of a 100 hour week.. I popped over to Ikea to get some bit's and bob's and came across this tin..

Like a magnet I was drawn to it.. Thinking how great it would look if it was Alcohol inked.. So in the trolley it went along with lot's of other random purchases that gave me so much great inspo. Infact there was no room left in the trolley for my intended purchase, a new craft desk!! However, it would have been more of a problem getting it into my car than I had anticipated... Oh well will have to make another visit, this time with the van....

I used Wild Plum, Red Pepper and Meadow and randomly applied them all over the lid and base of the tin. Initially I applied the Mixing Solution, but this just wiped the Alcohol ink off.. So not a good idea...

I cut out some letters on the Cricut using Plantin Schoolbook font.. (my favourite font) at the moment anyway.. and inked them up using Pesto and Cranberry Alcohol ink and stuck them on with a Glue pen.. I gave them a coat of PVA glue which sealed them to the tin...

Now my Inks store away all in one place. Which one to play with next!!!.. I know the Great Mr Tim Holtz has his own tins for the inks, but this was such a great bargain from Ikea I couldn't resist.

Thanks for checking us out..

Christmas in July

It has finally arrived. Our annual early start to Christmas... A lot of preparation on our part to turn our workshop into an extension of the main shop and so many samples made, but it was all oh so worth it... Thank you to everyone who turned up today. It was great seeing all the regulars and so many new faces to us at Pinnacles.. And thank you all for your comments, they are all very much appreciated..
Wow, what a selection... the best shop around, oh my god!!!, You have been busy haven't you... Simply stunning... were just some of your comments... and not to be out done the main shop downstairs was also ramo... So thank you all for your patients today...
The stars of the show were undoubtedly the cards.. In particular these ones..

For those of you desperate for this template we will get it out to you as soon as we can so you can get started on your designs...

This one was done with one of the new Cuttlebug Embossing Folders called Flourish and as predicted it went like the proverbial hot cake!, so if you got yours well done! More on their way for those that ordered them...
However, our thanks must go to another great star, Irene who, as always, gives her time, knowledge and support so freely.. So thank you Renee.. xxx
The great thing is that we get to do it all over again tomorrow, so see you there!!, and don't forget your camera!....

Finial

....architecture a carved decoration at the top of a gable, spire, or arched structure.... Well that is what the dictionary describes it as.
I have been playing with my cricut looking for shapes and came across this one on Christmas/Noel... To me it looks like a long bauble... I remember having something like this on the tree when I was a kid.. I'm sure it was bright purple and hung on a a white tree with all other colour baubles, no particular colour scheme... If you saw it now you would have thought someone had just thrown the stuff at the tree and hoped for the best..This however was the 70's and I don't think anyone really cared. Strange how a shape 30 years down the line can evoke such a memory eh... Have a think...
Anyway, here is my 2009 version of my 1970's bauble...
And for those who will be joining us over the weekend for our Christmas in July Weekend.. See you there... and thanks for looking.

Come meander with me...

Hi Everyone, I have been having a little play with some of the new Cuttlebug Embossing folders.

I embossed them on some Grunge Board to make Meander Books...
The inside of a Meander Book is made from just one piece of 12"x12" card stock.
Divide it into 16 3" squares with an embossing tool.

Cut from the bottom right corner of the first square to the end of the card, turn the card round 90 degrees and cut from the bottom right of the top square to the end of the card, turn again 90 degrees and cut from the bottom right of the top square to the end of the card.

Now just fold the squares on themselves in a zig zag motion.. Over under etc..
This can then be stuck to the front and the back cover of the book and decorated with photos, messages whatever you want really.



Go on give it a try, the possibilities are endless and it is fun and easy to do..
Thanks for looking..

Baubles..

Hi Everyone, where do the day's go?? It's been a very busy weekend in the shop and socially... and am struggling to catch up with everything, but catch up I must and will.. Have just sent out our club news letter to our Pinnacle Crafts Club Members, completed 2 lessons today and made yet more samples for our Christmas in July Weekend which is this coming weekend Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th July 2009
10am-5pm.. If you are coming don't forget your camera as you are more thank welcome to take pictures of our lovely samples...
Here's one I completed today using the new stamps from the Joyeux Noel and Home for Christmas range from Papermania and are part of the current Do Craft promotion..
Hope you like it and thanks for checking us out..

Happy 4th of July

Hi Everyone... As Today is the 4th of July our lesson in store @ Pinnacle Crafts is everything American. As a lot of our products come in from the States we thought what better way to celebrate today other than to play with them. So today is all about Tim Holtz and his Alcohol Inks, Distress Inks, Stickles, Stamps & Grunge Board.

Above is one of the samples I prepared for the class.. It's called a Quad card (because of the number of folds). The Stars on the Blue piece of card were made with one of the new YES NEW Cuttlebug folders.. Check them out here.
Here's how to make the basic shape for the Quad card...

I used an A4 piece of card which when folded up will fit in a DL envelope (4"x8.5")
Take a piece of A4 card, along the long edge measure and make a mark at 2",4",8"
& 10". Score down the card so that you have 4 folds.
On the 2" score line measure down 2" and up 2" and make a mark. Repeat this on the 10" score line.
With a Ruler and a Craft Knife line up the 2" marks on the 2" & 10" score lines and cut across the card. Repeat this on the bottom set of marks.
To be honest that is as simple as it is, you just now need to fold and decorate your card...

A different view of how to fold.

This is what it looks like flat and ready for the envelope.

So as I said it is pretty simple once to know the general idea, this is my take on it and I have seen other measurements using 12"x12" card stock. So go and have a play....
Here are a couple of other samples I have made...




I hope you like them and thanks for checking us out.