Happy Mail - Happy Days

Hi my friends, I was excited to receive a message from my adorable Professor to say that Sizzix were sending me his new Die Pick and Brush Kit and the Shaping Tool Kit along with some surfaces. Well, gobsmacked hardly comes close when the box arrived and I opened it to find this bumper bundle of "some" surfaces happy mail. A huge thank you to Tim and Sizzix for their kindness and generosity and I have to confess my first thought was WOW WOW WOW quickly followed by - blimey, where am I going to put it all?But hey, I'm a crafter and an organisation nerd with many years experience of finding space for new stuff so after a little bit of moving around, there's now a space for everything and everything in it's space. I had never used the Sizzix Sculpting Foam before, which comes in packs of 5 - 12" x 24" sheets, enough to last me for the rest of my crafting lifetime, I'm thinking so I fired up my Sizzix Fold-Away and set out on a fun die-cutting adventure using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Tattered Florals BigZ die. The BigZ die cut 4 layers of the Sculpting Foam at each pass so I soon had a big pile to work with. Then I had one of those "what if" moments and decided to add some grungy colour by dipping each flower into a puddle of Distress Oxide inks. (Antique Linen and Old Paper Distress Ink and Speckled Egg and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide from a Custom Blend Ink Pad and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink.I used my Ranger Heat-It Tool along with the stylus tools and mat from Tim's Shaping Tool Kit to shape and curl the individual flowers before layering them together, heating again and pressing down in the centre to create a more realistic look. I haven't fixed them together yet because I'm waiting for Sizzix Stamens to arrive to finish them off. But I best get cracking on the rest of my flower pile. I'll be back soon to share some projects made with these Sculpting Foam flowers and am intending having another fun adventure using card and paper using only the stylus tools in the kit with no heat, so watch this space. In the meantime, I have some Alcohol Ink Backgrounds, inspired by Tim's amazing, fun, inspiring and eductional YouTube Live Alcohol Ink Demo, to make into projects. 

If you missed the demo, you can catch the replay HERE. 

Have fun with whatever you are creating. 

Hugs Kath xxx