Hello friends and happy Monday! Hope you had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed celebrating the launch of Tim Holtz’s Stampers Anonymous 2023 Collection. If you missed any of it, you can catch up with the replay and see the products showcased, the incredible maker inspiration and some demo time with Tim, all on Tim’s blog.
It will come as no surprise that my favorite of all the stamp sets is The Inspector. I mean I LOVE him! AND the awesome accompanying stamps on the sheet. I wanted to make something with an “inspector” theme so decided to pair this awesome stamp set with some older sets to create a Postal Inspectors writing case. Let’s get into details…
Take an idea-ology vignette tray and using the new Tim Holtz rotary media trimmer, cut a piece of paper from the idea-ology backdrops volume 4 papers to size and glue into the back of the tray with distress collage medium.
The “plain” sheets of the backdrops papers make a perfect “backdrop” to add stamped imagery to. To create the side panels, stamp the background from The Inspector stamp set in vintage photo distress archival ink and stamp the cool grid-lines in black soot distress archival ink over the top. Adding various other stamps from The Inspector and Correspondence stamp sets to the panels.
To create the cover, lay paper from backdrops volume 4 pack over the vignette tray and mark with a pencil, including the score line. Score, fold and trim to size. Stamp with The Inspector and Correspondence stamp sets in distress archival ink. Trim and score a second layer from chipboard, again using the rotary media trimmer. Circle punch a hole to go over the idea-ology hitch fastener and glue the cover to the chipboard using distress collage medium.
Add idea-ology hinges to the top and bottom of the front cover.
Using the Tiny Prints stamp set to decorate the inside cover, cut a piece of distress watercolor cardstock to size, add walnut stain distress ink to the stamp, spritz with water and stamp, repeating several times to cover the piece.
To cover the fastener portions of the idea-ology hinges, die cut decorative trims from distress watercolor cardstock with the decorative trims thinlits dies, emboss with the 3D lumber folder and spray with walnut stain distress spray. Once dry, glue into place along the hinge edge of the inside cover with distress collage medium. You’re going to want to cut a few of these for this project.
Ready to assemble and color and add trims to the front cover.
Using distress watercolor pencils to color The Inspector stamp with no water added to retain the pencil look. The “return and forwarding postage…” stamp from Eccentric stamp set, stamped in fired brick distress archival ink and fussy cut, gave the perfect pop of color to the front cover.
Add Etcetera Scalloped Trims covered with decorative trims die cuts and embossed as before. Die cut alphanumeric tall thinlits dies from idea-ology metallic kraftstock to spell out “Postal Inspector” and add to the trims with distress collage medium.
Using a hole reinforcer die from the framed tags thinlits die set, cut distress kraft heavystock to cover the hole that hooks over the idea-ology hitch fastener. I LOVE this particular hole reinforcer, it’s so vintage looking and it hides any mess you create making the hole.
Now let’s get into what’s inside the writing case…
To create the tray dividers, cover Etcetera Scalloped Trims with distress watercolor cardstock die cut into trims using the decorative trims thinlits die set, 3D embossed with the lumber folder and sprayed with walnut stain distress spray. Cut to size and run a line of distress collage medium along the edges of the trim and glue into the tray and set aside to dry.
Using stamps from The Inspector stamp set, stamp numbers onto a label from the idea-ology classic label stickers and add to a bottle from the idea-ology corked vials set. Add idea-ology remnant rubs to another label and glue it to a bottle from the idea-ology tiny vials corked bottles. Add a little twine and glue the bottles into the tray with distress collage medium.
Next turning to the postale thinlits die set to create these tiny adorable envelopes. Stamp with The Inspector and Correspondence stamp sets with distress archival ink. Tie together with string and add a wax seal to the front envelope to hold them together and give a vintage look.
Create some postal labels using the collector thinlits die set to cut labels, stamped with The Inspector stamp set using distress archival ink. Attach them to an idea-ology loop pin ready to add to the writing case.
Add a loop screw from the idea-ology vignette hardware set to hang the labels on the loop pin from. I screwed this loop screw into the Etcetera Trim after I had glued the trim into the tray and it was so fiddly, so I recommend adding things like this before, if you can.
To add to the writing case theme, create a collection point for fountain pen nibs in need of cleaning and repair. Stamp “Service” using The Inspector stamp set in distress archival ink onto an idea-ology classic labels sticker and add to an idea-ology test tube with idea-ology pen nibs dropped inside. Add a little grunge by adding mushroom alcohol ink to the outside of the test tube glass. Place into the section created for the test tube using the Etcetera Scalloped Trims.
To create coin envelopes for the final section of this writing case, die cut envelopes using the collector thinlits die set and stamp with distress archival ink using The Inspector and Correspondence stamp sets.
Create a mask from copy paper to place over The Inspector when stamping the background. It’s easier to work in batches and have a test envelope for correct stamp placement.
Using distress watercolor pencils again to color The Inspector. I LOVE these pencils and LOVE having them in the vintage Distress palette!
Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any questions.
Zoe
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