That was the Week that was....

Hi Everyone, I'm too young to remember!, but I am told "That was the week that was" was a TV programme from way back.. Correct? Well, this week certainly has been the week that was... A week full of crafting and Birthdays!!! Yes, mine finally came on Friday the 25th and I would like to say a great big THANK YOU to all of you who sent me cards, presents and Best Wishes.. I appreciate all the time and effort you all made just for me..
It was also Club Members Weekend at Pinnacle Crafts this weekend, so we knew there would be little time to get any crafting done, and too be honest it's great to amongst the hustle and bustle in the shop when we are that busy...
During the week we had a lovely delivery from Kanban, what they are producing at the moment is nothing short of exceptional. The Acetates are stunning! and at only 75p each, to be honest, a real bargain!, I'd be happy to pay double!!
So it just had to be used.. I have had some of the original Acetate for some time now and not used it. As, at the time I thought it was too good to use.. I now understand those people that buy papers just to look at them, but lets face it, it's paper and something better will come along all to quickly, so you might as well use it now I guess.
We have had some new Christmas Tree Peel Offs delivered which have caused quite a stir in the shop, I think because of all the swirls on them. They have so much potential, and can be used more than just as a tree.
I peeled off 4 Large Green, 4 Large Red and 4 Medium Gold Tree's and stuck them onto plain Acetate and cut round them.
Then laid the bases of each coloured set onto of each other. I used a Sticky Dot on the back of each base, just to hold them in place.
I then took each set and layered them on top of each other, again using a Sticky Dot in between each layer.
Finally securing them all together with a large Brad. Making a hole with a Cropadile made it easier to get the Brad through all the layers. By layering the trees together has formed a quite funky Poinsettia I think! You could also use this as a Star shape.. So you see they do have enormous potential..
Then taking a piece of Red & Silver Swirls and Stars Acetate from Kanban I attached it to some White card stock using a Dot tape runner.
I find that if you put the tape runner on the card and then just lay the Acetate on top and don't push down too hard, let the Acetate find it's own level. If you press too hard you will see the sticky dots through the Acetate..
I attached a co-ordinating border ribbon, also from Kanban and then attached the Poinsettia shape using a Sticky Dot...
I'm really happy with the way it turned out and it has given me so many more ideas to use the other colours of Acetate in the range from Kanban... Hope you like..
Back later this week with the Blog Candy giveaway, so thanks for checking us out and see you soon.
Pinnacles....

Game On, or is it Game Over??

Hi Everyone... Today's project is a stunner!! No other words for it, it's a 10 out of 10.
Pauline's lesson this week is game cards. Now this could have been a number of things but what she has come up with is truly exceptional I think..
Taking a simple game idea, which we have all probably had a play with at some point, and making a card out of it was a stroke of genius..
The idea of the card is to roll the beads in the holes created in the card. We used a Cropadile, but any Eyelet Tool would do the job also.
Depending on your theme, the ideas are endless and ideal for Men's, Kids or any occasion to be honest.
If you can imagine making a shaker card then this really is no different, you just need to make a sealed box to fit onto the front of your card..
I think this one of a Pool/Snooker table is so clever..
Anyone for a round of Golf?
See I said it was a 10/10 project. It will keep the recipient occupied for ages and make your card stand out from all the rest... Game Over, never!! Game on I reckon..
Thanks for checking us out, see you soon.
Pinnacles..

Autumn has arrived and I'm pleased!!!

Hey Blogland... Has it really been a week since my last post??!!! That's shameful!! So apologies given and accepted, on with the post...
This week I'm sure I saw the arrival of Autumn, then a little bit of late Summer and then back to Autumn again. Don't you just love the British weather?? You know you wouldn't have it any other way.........
Any hoo, September is here and it is Birthday's all round... The shop had hers or is it his?? just over a week ago, then came my Dad's, Mum's is next, then it's eerrrmmm MINE!! and then my Nan's, all within 2 weeks of each other. So Happy Birthday to all those other September Babies out there... I know Joanne (Sis) dreads this Month (Birthday wise).. so to keep her sweet I'd thought I'd share with you one of her beautiful Parchment creations.. I've said it before and I'll say it again, what she can't do with a bit of parchment really isn't worth doing...

This is for her Parchment workshop on Saturday..
Now for a few close ups...

and even closer so that you can see all the work which has gone into this project.. I think you'll agree.. Stunning!!!

Now, not only has she produced the above project for her workshop, but as some of her class would prefer to do the project just embossing as opposed to colouring Joanne has also produced this... and a close up..
So have a good time on your workshop to those who are in on Saturday, you're spoilt for choice I think...
Thanks for checking us out.. See you soon.
Pinnacles..

More shrinking

Hi Everyone, as promised here is another Shrink Plastic card, this time with a Christmas theme.
It's been great re visiting an old technique this week.. But the Shrink Plastic will be put away until another time as we move onto yet another technique in our lessons next week, oh by the way our new lesson sheets are now available and take us right up to the end of the year.

I love this Poinsettia stamp, it has soooo much potential and I love the fact that even as a one dimensional shape none of it's detail is lost..
I stamped it out three times onto the rough side of some White Shrink Plastic using Black Stazon Ink. I then coloured it in using Derwent Watercolour Pencils.

The images were then cut out and heated with a heat gun to shrink them. Take a look at my previous post for tops tips on how to do this...

As I like to join in with the lesson (if I can and there is space,, not always the case.. standing room only for me last night!!!) I have ended up with quite a few cards with all the same elements, but just by changing the layout of the card brings a different pespective to the whole concept..

So, why not give it a go?..
Have a great weekend everyone, and if you are comig to the Essex Country show see you there..
Pinnacles..

Hunny, I shrunk the card!!!

Hey everyone, First of all We'd all just like to say a Great BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came to our Birthday sale day on Saturday, Thank you also for all the cards and best wishes for our 6th Birthday, A special thanks also to Toni & Kristy for our balloon. Everyone should have a balloon on their Birthday I think!!! and it is defo a good one as after Three days it is still floating... So thank you one and all. We hope you all enjoy your bargain purchases.. You certainly cleared us out!!!

Today, I'd like to share some cards we have prepared for our Shrink Plastic lesson this week.. I Have had so much fun preparing these. I hope you enjoy them and they give you some inspiration to try this great technique for yourselves...

Firstly, I stamped my images out using StazOn Black Ink. Two images were stamped onto White Shrink Plastic. I used the rough side as I intend to colour them in. Stamping on the glossy side would not hold the colour and would potentially come off. If I was not going to colour the image then I would probably stamp onto the glossy side. The third image was just stamped onto some White card stock. The Image is from the Popcorn Bear range from Crafters' Companion.
I coloured the images in using Derwent Watercolour pencils, which are available in the shop. As I wasn't sure which images I was going to use I decided to colour everything in and then decide afterwards...
Once coloured, I cut out the Bears and Ducks from the Shrink Plastic, at this stage I decided to loose the Golf Clubs....

Lining up the images I then thought that the Ducks were not working for me so I put them to one side for another project.
So with my Two Shrink Plastic images ready to be shrunk, I placed them in a small box and shrunk them one at a time with a heat gun.. I have done this quite a few times over the years and it can potentially be a hit or miss technique.. However my preferred method of shrinking the images is to use the slower heat setting on my heat gun. I also start heating in the middle of the image, as this shrinks, it means the corners don't tend to roll over on themselves and stick to each other. Once shrunk, I flattened the image with an acrylic stamping block..

I then cut out 2 balloon images in Shrink Plastic and One image in White card stock from the Celebrations Cartridge from the Cricut machine. These images were cut out at 2" in size.. I used the Multicut function when cutting the Shrink Plastic to make sure it cut through..
Again these were coloured with Derwent Watercolour pencils

and the Two Shrink Plastic images were shrunk as I did with the Bear images..

Once all the cutting, colouring and shrinking had been done I found some great card stock from Kanban which suited the images perfectly...

I also found one for the ducks as well!!!

Later in the week I will show you a Christmas version, so thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check back..
Pinnacles....

Blog Candy Winner!!!

Well done and congratulations to MRS ELMO.. Winner of Augusts Blog Candy. Your prize will be waiting for you next time you are in the shop..
Thanks for checking us out...