April's Review	Andrea's Review	Rebecca's Review	Karen's Review	Renee's Review

Review by April

The minute I saw Tinkering Ink's "Noir Blanc Collection", I instantly thought, "I'm going to have some fun creating with this line!" I am big on using all different kinds of mediums on my projects, and the simple yet elegant black and white colors of this collection offer endless creating possibilities. Each of the 12 patterned papers that came in my kit were all 12" x 12", double-sided and basically provided me with 24 different patterns to choose from. One side would be predominantly black with white accents and the other side would be the opposite featuring predominantly white with black accents...just like having a positive and a negative! I found the papers to be of a nice heavy weight that sanded beautifully and could defintely be used as is without cardstock if desired. All of the paper patterns were unique, bold, and eye catching. I also received a heavy weight 12" x 12" sheet of Tabs & Tags that came in all different sizes and shapes. Some were purely for decoration, while others provided great spaces for journaling. The Monogram Letters that were included in the collection, were lighter in weight, but came in a larger size than most, almost 31/2 inches tall, and included 1 of each letter in the alphabet!

I had a lot of fun with my first layout! I used crayons to color in several of the stripes on the Cary Grant paper, and then went back over them with a glitter pen to help them pop. I adore lines of all kinds...and what I think is great about this paper, is the fact that I could use it several times over just by using different mediums and embellishments to dress it up for a different look. I also love how the lines in the paper can be used to direct someone's eyes to your main focal point!

Title:Rainbow
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Prismatics: Black)
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink, Noir Blanc Collection: Cary Grant)
Ghost Letters (Heidi Swapp)
Bling (Heidi Swapp)
Pencils (Crayola Twistables)
Pens (Sakura Glitter, and Sharpie)
Staples (Making Memories)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

My second project came together fairly quickly. It's hard to go wrong with coordinating paper, monograms, and die cuts! The lines on the Fred Astaire paper created the perfect housing for all my journaling. I used a red pen in the white stripes, and a white sharpie in the black lines! The super huge monograms were perfect for a title and I even dressed them up a little with a charcoal pencil.

Title: My Love
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Prismatics, Classic Red)
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink, Noir Blanc Collection: Rudolph Valentino and Fred Astaire)
Die Cuts (Tinkering Ink, Noir Blanc Tabs & Tags)
Monograms (Tinkering Ink, Noir Blanc Monogram Letters)
Bling (Heidi Swapp in Ruby)
Ribbon (Tie One on Ribbon Club)
Pens (American Crafts, and Uniball Signo)
Charcoal Pencil
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my last project I created something to hang on the wall! I have been wanting to create more home decor, and I thought some of these papers would be perfect for the job! I loved the look of the Marlena Dietrich paper and thought it would look really cool if I used my watercolors on it. Originally I thought watercolors would be enough, but then I kind of went crazy and added some crayons, markers, and glitter! I put this 1 piece of paper to the test for sure, (water coloring, crayons and markers, and then used mod podge to adhere it to a 12" x 12" chipboard sheet) and after all that it was still in great condition! I think this paper would be super cute as a door hanger that flips around to where the other side of the paper has been decorated with different colors and a different saying.

Title:Love w/out Measure
Materials Used:
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink, Noir Blanc Collection: Marlena Dietrich)
Pencils (Faber-Castell Watercolor pencils, and Crayola Twistables)
Pens (Sakura Gelly Roll, and Glitter)
Paint (Ranger Paint Dabber)
Rub-ons (Flair Designs, and Deja Views)
Ribbon (Tie One on Ribbon Club)
Bling (Heidi Swapp, and Karen Foster)
Flower (Prima)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner, and Mod Podge)

I usually don't buy collections very often because I will only use a pattern or color scheme a couple of times before I'm ready to move on to something totally different. With the Noir Blanc Collection, I could easily see myself making several projects from just this one collection. The Black and White Color Scheme offers so many different possibilities and can really make designing a lot of fun. You could easily use black and white or color pictures and have stunning results either way. I found that this collection really got my creative juices flowing and inspired me to try new things!

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Review by Andrea

Tinkering Ink has such a great start in the scrapbooking world with their previously released collections: Perfectly Posh, Westminster, Gibson and Covent Garden - what is next??? Well, continuing with their "out-of-the-box" thinking, welcome the Noir Blanc Collection. Literally translated from French meaning "black white", this collection brings the bold, classic and elegant to the fore front of scrapping with complete style.

Beautifully patterned 12" x 12" papers in only black and white, the Collection sparks immediate ooohhing and aaaahhhhing while invoking a little terror at the thought of what to do with the striking patterns? Continuing the style trend is the name of the papers: Errol Flynn, Rita Hayworth, Greta Garbo and other screen legends - what a COOL idea! If it's possible to still add to the elegance of this paper, the patterns are all classic and rather baroque like houndstooth, pin stripe, paisley and floral. They are bold and large with yet another uniqueness to them - a white background with a black pattern on one side and the opposite on the back side.

Also coordinating in Noir Blanc is a Tabs and Tags sheet and Monograms sheet. Both are 12" x 12" and the Monograms are a double page. The letters are a large serif font over 3" high. Each one has a small version of the patterned paper over the letter. I found the tabs, tags and monograms easy to punch-out of the main sheet, but they sometimes needed a trimming to remove the webs from the die cut.

The versatility of black and white patterned papers is fantastic when it comes to color accenting. In the layout below, I found the deep blue color especially nice as a contrast against the patterned paper, but with the pictures as well. The stripes echoed the urban location in the pictures and the circles added some organic feel. You can see the white with black dots as the background for the title, then the black with white dots as the circle element - that is the reverse side of one sheet of paper. Cool!

Title: City Walk, Hollywood
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Exclusives: Nero and Bleu)
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc: Fred Astaire and Rudolph Valentino)
Stamps (Making Memories)
Paint (Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabber)
Rhinestones (Heidi Swapp)
Sketch (ScrapFriends)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Continuing with a Book of Me project that I'm working on, a recent assignment asked the question "what do you want to be remembered for?" It got me thinking and since I'm a Libra by nature, being honest and well-liked are high on the list. The contrast of the paper was ideal for the casual photos and really made the red brad heart stand out. I love the classic and fun feel of the page thanks to the patterns and tags.

Title: Remembering Me
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Prismatics: Black and White)
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc: Errol Flynn)
Tabs and Tags (Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc)
Brads (JoAnn's Scrap Essentials)
Paint (Ranger Acrylic Paint Dabber)
Stamps (Sugarloaf Products)
Ink (Tsukineko Brilliance, Graphite Black)
Ribbon (Tie One On)
Sketch (www.123-Scrap.com)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

There are so many occasions and topics one could scrap about using the Noir Blanc Collection. I can envision an entire wedding album completed using Noir Blanc. What about those fun parties and birthday celebrations throughout life? How about those pictures where everyone is wearing a different color? Give a big hug to Tinkering Ink for bringing us this Collection. Get over the petrified feeling of working with such a bold color combination or pattern - it's only black and white! Add some color and turn out some great pages you'll fall in love with over and over, just like the old movies.

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Review by Rebecca

Black and white are staple colors for any wardrobe and scrapbooking collection, right? Well, I often use black and white as complementary colors on layouts but I have never used them as the main colors. So when I received the Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc collection I was apprehensive and intimdated by the bold black and white. Could I create projects with black and white as my main colors?

The Noir Blanc collection from Tinkering Ink includes patterned papers, monograms and a die cut tag sheet. The patterns include stripes, circles, leaves and other decorative desgins. The papers are double-sided cardstock weight 12" x 12" sheets and the patterns are opposites on the flipside. That means if one side has white leaves on a black background the flip side has the same design but it is black leaves on a white background. It is very interesting how aternating the colors changes the way your eye sees the pattern.

I was initially intimidated to use the black and white products since I've always had lots of color in my layouts. I decided to use yellow acrylic paint to add some color througout my review projects.

For the Sometimes layout, I used acrylic paint on the monogram, tag and on the background patterned paper. The tags and monograms are prescored in 12" x 12" sheets. However, the monograms are very thin so I had to be careful not to rip it when I was taking it out of the sheet and even painting and adhering it.

Title:Sometimes
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper, Tags, Monogram (Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc)
Paint (Heidi Swapp)
Pen (Zig)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

I also did a couple pages in my art journal. For my first page I trimmed around a design on one of the tags to create the title block which hangs over the edge of the page. I also used lots of water to thin the acrylic paint into a wash and used it to add color. I journaled on a sheet of vellum so that the striped patterned paper could still be visible.

Title: My Bad
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper, Tags (Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc)
Paint, Plastic Letters (Heidi Swapp)
Vellum (WorldWind Papers)
Pen (Zig)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For the second page of my art journal I used acrylic paint to add color to the background. I trimmed out a couple white leaves from one of the patterned papers and added a monogram.

Title: Make
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper, Monogram (Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc)
Paint (Heidi Swapp)
Pen (Zig)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my final project I created an everyday card. The card used some cardstock, patterned paper and a tag. The tag was longer than the card but after I trimmed the tag I used a black marker to add a border to the side I had cut so it matched the black border on the rest of the tag.

Title: Sometimes Card
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper, Tags (Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc)
Sticker (Scribbles by Rhonna Farrer Enchanted)
Pen (zig)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The Tinkering Ink Noir Blanc product line was fun to work with. Once I added some additional color, I found that the papers were easy to use. I like that the patterned papers are thick so it does not curl or pucker when I used paints. I really liked that the papers were opposite colors on the flipside as I could choose which would work best for my project. The monograms and tags make it easy to embellish a page and once again, Tinkering Ink has created a product line that inspires creativity!

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Review by Karen

Have you ever looked for a patterned paper that could be a “stock” item in your supplies? I know I have. I look at patterned paper as the special something that dresses up my pictures, but many times I wonder if there is one patterned paper that I can go back to again and again. Guess what? I’ve found that paper!! Just like every ladies closet needs to have black dress, Tinkering Ink’s Noir Blanc collection needs to be in every scrappers closet!

This collection consists of papers, monogram die cuts and shaped die cuts called Tabs and Tags. In my packet, I received one of each of the twelve patterned papers, a sheet of monogram letters, and the Tabs and Tags. The patterned papers are truly unique. One side had white images on a black background while the opposite side is black on a white background. The patterns themselves are very organic, think leaves or damask type patterns. They are positively the BEST scrapbooking black dress!

One thing that I noticed when I spread the kit out to see what photos might work with the papers is that really any of my photos would work. This paper is SO easy to work with. The black and white creates a stunning backdrop for any secondary color scheme. Want to use pinks? Not a problem… black, white and pink makes a beautiful combination. What about red or teal? Honestly, there isn’t a color that doesn’t pop when added to black and white! The only problem that I had was getting my brain to slow down long enough to get each of the ideas that I had on paper!

I started working with the paper called “Greta Garbo”. I loved the movement that the paper has. I added three large circles to help move the eye around the page. Then I added some drama by matting my photo in red. I really love how this collection of patterned paper makes your photos stand out. To anchor my title I used one of the tabs from the Tabs and Tags sheet.

Title: The Gap
Materials Used:
Patterned Paper Noir Blanc (Tinkering Ink)
Solid paper Perfectly Posh (Tinkering Ink)
Letter stickers American Crafts
Chipboard Heart (American Crafts)
Stamp (7gypsies)
Doodlebug Paper Frills
brad (American Crafts)
tag (Making Memories)
Pen (Pigment Pro, American Crafts)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

My second layout uses the Lauren Bacall paper for the background. This is another one that has a lot of movement in it. I love the way that the black and white pull your eye through the paper. I used Frosted Teal cardstock by Prism to mat my photo and Iced Teal to journal on. The large circle is from the Tabs and Tags sheet. I loved the way that it reminded me of the totem carvings in Alaska.

Title: Call of the Wild
Materials Used:
Cardstock Frosted Teal, Iced Teal(Prism Prismatics)
Patterned Paper Noir Blanc(Tinkering Ink)
Graphic Circle (Tinkering Ink)
Letter Stickers (American Crafts)
Chipboard letters (Queen and Co)
Stamps (Doodlebug)
Stamp ink (Ranger Ink)
Pen (American Crafts)
Other paint (Lil Davis); paper frills (Doodlebug)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

Noir Blanc really is the little black dress of the scrappers closet! While I used patterns that had random movement, other papers in the collection are very masculine. These papers are truly beautiful and striking. They have a since of drama that reminds me of the Hollywood of yesteryear.

These papers feel timeless. They are the type of pattern that you won’t wonder what you where thinking 10 years from now. These are the papers that seem to transcend time, and will appeal to you today and tomorrow. And as my Home Economics teacher told me years ago, every proper young lady needs to have one black dress in her closet! Here is the one for your scrapping closet!

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Review by Renee

Most of my friends know that one of my favorite scrapbook companies out there is Tinkering Ink. They are a relatively new scrapbook company that specializes in papers and embellishments that have an artistic feel. Thus far, there are nine collections available from Tinkering Ink. The papers and embellishments all have a graphic, artistic feel to them, most with bold, bright colors. The one exception is the Noir Blanc collection.

The Noir Blanc collection is a bold, graphic collection which is done in all black and white. Each paper from the collection has the same pattern on both sides, but with the dominant color from each paper reversed. One side has a dominant color of white and the other side has a dominant color of black. This makes a very beautiful layered look, when combining papers. It also makes it especially helpful when blending various papers together for a layered look as you can match the patterns together without worrying about whether the colors will show when placed next to each other.

For this review, I received one sheet each of the papers available in the Noir Blanc collection. These papers are named names like Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Fred Astaire, Rudolph Valentino, Joan Crawford, Marlena Dietrich, Errol Flynn, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Rita Hayworth, and James Stewart. In addition, the collection comes with a set of the Monogram letters and a sheet of Tabs and Tags. When I first looked at the papers, I was a little intimidated by the lack of color. However, once I began pushing the papers around, I realized that the lack of color freed me to be able to pair the papers with what ever pictures I wanted, without worry of clashing colors.

For my first project, I used three pictures from our recent trip to Disney World taken in the brightly colored "Small World" ride in the Magic Kingdom. I selected the Lauren Bacall paper, using the white dominant side to complement the black background cardstock that I chose. When laying out the pictures, I decided to use a punch of color to accent and used the reds from the pictures to accent the layout. The black, white and red makes a very classic layout, that allows the pictures to make a statement.

Title:Small World
Materials Used:
Cardstock (Prism Prismatics, Black and Classic Red)
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink)
Cardstock Tab (Tinkering Ink)
Rub-ons (BasicGrey)
Foam Letters (American Crafts Thickers)
Flower (Unknown)
Font (Kids downloaded from the internet)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

For my second project, I decided to alter a simple, inexpensive monthly planner with the classic look of the black and white papers. With this project, I was able to use the black dominant side of the Humphrey Bogart papers coupled with the white dominant side of the Cary Grant paper. Because of the double-sidedness of the papers, I was able to combine the patterns without concern for them blending together too much. The result was a sophisticated look for my monthly planner.

Title:Plans 08
Materials Used:
Patterned Paper (Tinkering Ink)
Ribbon (May Arts)
Flowers (Unknown)
Brad (Making Memories)
Bling (Heidi Swapp)
Alpha Stickers (Arctic Frog)
Adhesive (Adhesive Tech, Permanent Bond Glue Runner)

The Noir Blanc collection from Tinkering Ink is a fresh take on their graphicly designed papers and embellishments. The large, bold patterns blend beautifully together. Because they are truly neutral, they work well with almost any photograph you choose to scrap. This collection is very versatile and is a welcome addition to any scrapbook stash.

For more information visit Tinkering Ink