ArtsyCrafts Workshops, Part 1

As some of may know (because you saw me there - or heard me, I seem to be recognised by my voice a lot!) I went on the ArtsyCrafts Workshop last week. This was a 2.5 hours class with the awesome Lin and Leandra and a 4 hour class with Tim Holtz himself!

Needless to say, a wonderful time was had by one and all - many, many thanks to all involved for their tireless hard work and preparation for this great event! I'll show the Tim Holtz project in part 2 (I've got a few finishing touches to add to it), but shown above is the project we made in the class with Lin and Leandra. Great fun to make and I got to use some cool new products - PaperArtsy's new range of chalk acrylic paint, metallic "goop" and metal card among them. They even gave me a "boy" alternate to use instead of the dangling pearl embellishment it featured (nice, but not really my "thing" lol)! I have to say, I think it's one of the nicest things I've ever made in a class!

"Your Grunge!" Challenge

Over on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge blog today the new theme is "Your Grunge!". I've had grunge paper kicking around for quite some time but never really gotten around to using it much, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

Part of the inspiration for this piece was the title sequence of the recent series of Big Brother here in the UK. I really enjoyed the sinister circus/mad house feel used in the titles and set decoration of the show. Those who haven't seen it or are overseas can get a sense of what I mean here.

The circus letters, bunting, awning and curtain with a hole in it were all designed on the PC and cut on the Cricut using the SCAL program. The awning was cut from grunge paper, painted with acrylic paint and then overstamped with some Tim Holtz paint splatters. It was also sanded and inked to distress it further, before being glued in place inside a 2" deep frame from Ikea.

I used my TH design ruler (those grid markings are just so darned useful!) to mark the stripes on the curtain and then coloured it using promarkers. I distressed it with a walnut stain distress ink pad applied with an ink blending tool and then overstamped some paint splatters too. "For the eye" and "See All" were stamped separately and fixed to the curtain.

I wanted the eye to be quite a distance behind the hole in the curtain so I constructed a box from white card, and stamped the eye in the middle of the bottom surface before assembling it and sticking it to the back of the curtain. By sticking the base of the box to the rear of the frame it also allowed the curtain to stand 1/2 way between the front and back of the frame, adding more dimensionality to the composition.

I wanted the eye to look like a black and white photograph, though it's just a stamp. so I coloured it with various shades of grey promarker and then used the shape cut out from the hole in the curtain as a mask to apply a shadow around the eye. The circus letters were coloured with promarker and then stuck into place. At the very back is a piece of Graphic 45 striped paper and infront of that a partially coloured section of a TH clowns stamp.

I deliberately left some parts of this piece partially coloured or un-coloured as I wanted to stress the artifice of the whole piece and in a way make myself part of it all. The pointy hat is a section cut from a large notepaper stampe. coloured with promarkers then distressed with walnut stain. All of the elements were layered with 3d foam tape and the memo pins stuck into place.

I hope you like it :) As ever, click any of the pics to see a larger view!

Why not pop over to the challenge blog and see the amazing entries by the rest of the design team? Even better, join in the fun! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $25 gift voucher again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try?

Freebie #46 - Grungepaper Roses

[I've started to make my files available from my blog again and am adding a new set each week. Check out the "Cutting Files" tab at the top of the page to see which ones are available for download.]

Many of you will be familiar with these grungepaper flowers by now, they're all over the internet. I thought it was time for a cutting file that was custom designed rather than using a regular flower shape and then hand cutting it to get it right. I designed these files to elimate all the cutting, not just cutting out the flower shapes, but removing petal segments and cutting a hole in the centre once they've been glued in shape. You can, of course, cut these from regular cardstock, but if you can get hold of some grungepaper, please try it, the end result is SO MUCH better!

This is what the pieces look like after they've been cut on the Cricut.

I've coloured the pieces with promarkers and stamped a dotted design over the top. You could use paints, inks or even glue patterned paper to the grungepaper pieces.

On the 3 largest pieces, overlap the end petals and glue into place with glossy accents or some other strong adhesive (I've used my ATG gun here, which is ok as long as you don't get it everywhere). Roll up the smallest piece and glue. Form the remaining piece into a cone, overlapping the edges slightly and glue in place.

Curl the petals on all pieces and then assemble, glueing each piece into place. If you find the hole in the centre of a piece is too small, just snip it larger with scissors.

Let me know how you get on, I'd love to see your completed roses!!

Please remember you are only allowed to download this file for your own use and may not distribute it to others in any form. I spend a great deal of time creating my designs, please respect the terms under which they are given.

Again, this template will be "live" for 1 week. Next week it will be taken down, and new ones will replace it. Don't forget, if you have any requests, pass them on! I can't promise, but I will take suggestions into account when planning future templates.

These files may not be uploaded to a group, forum or website for sale or redistribution, or shared among individuals. They are expressly for the personal use of each person that downloads them from this blog.

There is only 1 file but I have put it into a zip file to make downloading easier. After saving it, open in the usual way, and drag the file out onto your desktop or wherever you wish to save it.

There are 2 versions of each template:

• An SVG version which can be imported into the Sure Cuts a Lot or Make the Cut program and then cut out on your Cricut.
• A DXF version which is Craft Robo friendly, and ready to be imported into your Robomaster software (I'm not a Robo user, so if there are any problems with this, please let me know!)

Simply click on the appropriate button below to download the file!

Any feedback on the templates is more than welcome, and if you have any suggestions for possible future templates you'd like to see, please let me know! If you make anything using one of the templates, please post a link to it here so that others can be inspired by how you've used them!

I hope you like the templates - let me know how you get on! :)

Templates © dan99crafter@gmail.com 2009

Grungepaper Rose

Well, I saw that bandwagon truckin' on by, and I just had to jump on it, didn't I? LOL

Here is my take on a grungepaper rose. It's the first one I've made, and I need a little more practise in folding the petals just right, but I don't think it's too bad all things considered! LOL The rose shown is cut from cardstock, inked, stamped, assembled and rock candy stickle-d. I have also cut one from grungepaper but I haven't assembled it yet, so will add that one later!

And here's the grungepaper version, a much better result, I think you'd agree!

I can see now why these are usually made from grungepaper, it's much easier to work with, more forgiving and gives a much better curl on the petals!

Trading Places!

Last week I spent a few days staying with my friend Linda and in the midst of a long day of crafting, we set each other a challenge - I had to make something that looked as if Linda had made it, and she had to make something that looked as if I had made it. This is my attempt!

Although I've had some grungepaper for ages, this is the first time I've ever used it! The biggest problem is that the butterflies should have tiny beads along their bodies, and though I knew this, it was just one step too far outside my comfort zone for me to do it! LOL Having said that, I don't think I did too badly! If you're not familiar with Linda's style, check out her blog

http://acraftingjourney.blogspot.com/

and let me know how well (or badly!) I did :o) You should also be able to see her "Dan tag" - Did she capture my style? Like the beads on this tag, she also did one thing on hers that I would never do - can you spot what it is? It was a lot of fun, as was the whole visit - thanks to Linda for being such a great and fun host, and to her partner John for some delicious meals! :o)