Now look,

I've been posting to this blog for longer than is good for the shape of my bottom - think about it - the sitting down at the computer thing is all I mean....but, if you've been reading it for even half of a while, you may well know how resistant I was to the Tim Holtz signature range and all the altered manic-ness that was all 'new', say from about 18 months ago. You will therefore have noticed that since the Distress Inks became available in colours other than 7 shades of wee wee, I've started to get into the whole, grunging, inking slightly weirdy, birdy, Holtzy thing. I've invested. Oh yeah; I have a very decent collection of DI's (that's Distress Inks) to you who don't know and probably could care less. I have grunge board, 5 five Tim Holtz signature dies and I dunno, various other bits and pieces, and stamps. Very expensive stamps. Lots and lots of you gals have inspired me with your examples and pushed me to try stuff I wouldn't otherwise have done in the style and technique world that is the whole Holtz thing.

A couple weeks ago, having sacked a black ink pad, I decided to replace it with one that I often see on TH videos, product descriptions and admired bloggers' work. I started my collection of Adirondack ink pads. They seem to average about four-and- a-half-quid, which makes them possibly on the lower side of the competition in ink pad pricing.

Now I dunno about you, but I try to store my inkpads upside down. It keeps any remnants of ink in the top of the pad where it's most useful. The Distress Inks stack and take a lot of toppling - but you can't pick one off the pile of upside down ink pads without leaving the lid behind. It's a mild annoyance at best....but it's there. But this Adirondack ink pad, well. The damned lid is loose and difficult to relocate just to put back on. You kinda have to stop what you're doing and actually lend it some focus. Of course if you stack upside down, the lid gets left behind. Worse though, the lid is so loose it just falls off....your fingers get blackened (or other coloured) in the effort to save the lid and not drop the pad and if it comes off in transit, it's all over anything else in the vicinity. This annoys the you know what out of me. OK, so do some others lids. But not all. Competitor lids are hinged, or fit snugly. Don't tell me to buy a bag of rubber bands, or come up with a blob of blue tack or other simple solution. I/WE shouldn't be the ones to resolve it. I just lashed out £4.50 for an inkpad which will be dry in a heartbeat because it has a crappy lid system. For the money, I want it to be a snugger fit. It doesn't have to be hinged or sophisticated fold back easel technology...but it needs to be less cheap and fit well. Surely I'm not the only one? I realise I'm probably the only one that can make it into a 10 minute blog post, but aaaaarrrrgggghhh, it's so driving me nuts that I'm going back to Stazon; it may not be as tricksy or thick as the pigment Adirondack, but god, the lid fits. I wasted my money.

Are we all so in love with the Tim Holtz lines that Ranger can sell us anything that he uses without recourse? Please someone - anyone, with any influence at Ranger - tell 'em. I cannot believe how vitriolic this one ink pad and lid problem has made me! I'm off. I obviously need a pill.