Wednesday, November 28, 2012

guest tutorial with the Gentleman Crafter

This week our challenge is "a project with heart" and we invited Jim The Gentleman Crafter to join in the fun! You can check out the rest of our design team's creations here, as well as enter the challenge (and your chance to win a $50 voucher to Simon Says Stamp!) here. Now, before we get to the tutorial today, let me take a moment to thank Jim for joining us today, and introduce him to you as well.
Father to many dogs and ducks and a cat named Buzzy out on a farm in Granger, Texas. I love to use my hands and mind to create anything! There is nothing I love better than sitting down with a fresh roll of scor-tape and some chipboard! You never know what will happen!
 
I will step back now and get out of the way - as Jim takes you on a fantastic creative journey to create a steampunk-inspired masterpiece...

The Tricycle Heart

A fast and easy altered art heart with a steampunk feel. The heart box glides along on three pulley wheels. Once the Bead Chain is “unhitched”, the inside reveals a little mini book perfect for pictures and memorabilia.



Step 1:
Paint the Paper Mache heart box with the Pitch Black Paint Dabber on the outside. Allow to dry. Paint the inside of the heart box with the Red Pepper Paint Dabber on the inside. Allow to dry.



Step 2:
Using heavy cardstock make a heart template by tracing around the box top and bottom. (There will be about a 1/8-inch variance.) Next, cut template out and trace around this pattern onto a page of Tim Holtz Destinations Paper Stash. I used the patterned paper with the gears. Cut the two heart shapes out. Using the same piece of patterned paper cut out a strip that will cover the sides of the box. For the 4-1/4 heart box used, the measurement is 2-1/4 x 12. Distress edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink and adhere to respective places.

Note: For the outside section I folded the paper in half and started at the fold of the heart and the fold of the paper working downwards. The paper will not be long enough to cover the whole box and the next step will deal with this.

Step 3:
For the bottom of the heart box where the paper does not cover the tip of the heart, cut a piece of Grungepaper to 1-1/2 x 2-1/4. Round the edges with a scissor or a corner chomper. Next, apply Vintage Photo Distress Ink or Stain to the Grungepaper piece. You may choose to stud it with brads as I have done. Adhere the piece over the edges of the paper and onto the box.



Step 4:
Cut a strip of Grungepaper to 5/8 x 12-inches and ink or stain with Vintage Photo. Measure and pierce every 3/4-inch. Insert Tim Holtz Long Fastener Brads into the holes. Next, adhere the strip to the edge of heart box lid. Once again, the Grungepaper will not reach to cover the entire edge.

Cut another piece of Grungepaper to 5/8 x 3-inches. Ink with Black Soot Distress Ink. Use a scissor or corner chomper and chomp both ends rounding off the piece. Come a 1/2-inch in on each end and pierce once with a piercing tool and apply brads. Adhere over previously adhered edge piece and to box edge.


Step 5:
For the next step you can either use hot glue for speediness or Glossy Accents. First, adhere two Tim Holtz Idea-ology Pulley Wheels opposite each other, next to the Grungepaper piece. Last, adhere a third pulley wheel to the right side below the previous wheel. This will allow the piece to stand.


Step 6:
Wrap a piece of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Bead Chain around the box to get a measurement. With wire cutters, cut the length of chain needed. With a piercing tool, pierce through the backside center of the box. Next, insert a Tim Holtz Long Fastener Brad over the chain and into the hole folding the brad legs to the inside of the box. Note: Place a little dab of hot glue over the brad legs to secure. Touch up the paint with the Red Pepper Paint Dabber. Take one end of the Bead Chain and glue a Tim Holtz Hinge Clip to one end. This clip will act as a closure for the box by holding one of the beads in its grip.


Step 7:
Adhere two sizes of the Tim Holtz Regal Adornments wings together using VERY HOT hot glue. Start by placing a dab of hot glue on the smaller wing and applying it to the larger, pressing firmly for a secure bond. Do this for both the left and right wing pieces.

Next, bend a Tim Holtz File Tab, to a 90 degree or right angle. On one side cut off the rectangular end pieces so you have just the round part of the tab. Once again, apply a dab of hot glue to the rounded part and adhere to backside of wings near the edge. Repeat for other wing piece. Last, apply more hot glue to the other tab end and adhere to each side of the heart box.

Step 8:
Cut a piece of cork into a “V” shape, cutting at the smaller end. I used one of the larger stoppers from the Tim Holtz Corked Vials. Apply glue to bottom and adhere to the center top of the heart box. Next, adhere a Tim Holtz Knob to the top of the cork. Last, apply a dab of glue to the backside of the knob and adhere a small portion of the Tim Holtz Bead Chain around the knob securing again with glue on the backside.


Step 9:
To adorn the front of the box, I simply used a brad to hold together a Tim Holtz Timepiece, Sprocket Gears, and a Word Band and adhered to the top right corner.

Step 10:
Using the heart template I made for the outside bottom, I cut a 1/4 of an inch off around the edges forming a new 3-1/2 inch heart template. Next, I traced this 16 times onto various pages of the Tim Holtz Destination Paper Stash. I then cut these pieces out.


Next, use the same template and trace out 8 heart shapes onto chipboard and cut them out with Tim Holtz Tonic Scissors. Adhere the patterned paper shapes to the front and backsides of the chipboard pieces and distress with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. First, Punch two holes on the top left edge of two of the heart pieces together with a WeRMemoryKeepers Cropadile using the 1/8-inch punch. Apply Tim Holtz Jump Rings to the holes. Next, open up the heart pages and place one of the heart pieces behind the right page. Punch two holes on the top right side of the heart pieces and apply jump rings to those.


Repeat this process working from left to right making an accordion book for pictures or memorabilia. Last, adhere a Tim Holtz Label Pull to the front cover center for ease of pulling the little mini book out.


Voila! A Tricycle Heart Box with a Mini inside!
 



Thank you so much for sharing with us Jim! Be sure to enter the challenge here - and for more of Jim's creations be sure to visit his blog here.

Supplies Used:





















4-1/4 Paper Mache Heart Box Found at Many Craft Stores

Medium Weight Chipboard

Tools Used:







Monday, November 26, 2012

Challenge: A Project with Heart

    What is crafting, if not done with a bit of heart? When I create I do so from a place of creative happiness. I stay true to my own crafty heart, and I enjoy every minute. With this in mind, I came up with this week’s challenge. To craft a project with heart.
 
Whether you create a heartfelt card for someone dear to you, create a mixed media canvas with a heart focal point, use hearts as embellishments on your next layout, or art journal about what is dear to your heart we have a feeling this is going to be a lovely week of projects. I can’t wait to see what the design team has dreamed up - lets check out their creations from the heart starting with our very special guest!
 
Jim, aka the Gentleman Crafter is our guest this week, and he took the challenge to heart!Be sure to check back this Wednesday when Jim shares a tutorial and more photos of this amazing creation of his- the Tricycle Heart.

Jim says - A fast and easy altered art heart with a steampunk feel.  The heart box glides along on three pulley wheels.  Once the Bead Chain is “unhitched”, the inside reveals a little mini book perfect for pictures and memorabilia.
I can't wait to see more photos of this project as well as the tutorial for building your own. Tune in Wednesday! Now, let's check out what the design team did for this challenge-

 
When Sandra Mouwen saw this heart shaped coaster made of stone, her creative juices immediately started flowing.

I'm getting more and more into mixed media projects. And for those projects the sky is the limit, so why not use a heart shaped stone coaster on my canvas? One thing is a fact, I need some strong glue to hold it in place and let it dry for a while! The first thing I did, was put some Gesso on the canvas as a primer. For the background I used stencils (Letter Jumble and Mini Bricks) and stamps (Classics #6 and Bitty Grunge). I cut out those half doilies from the Classic Calico 2 and glued them to a piece of Jute string. And embellished it some more with some random items, like Corrugated Cardboard and some buttons.


Sarah was thinking it had been rather a long time since she last got her Tissue Tape out...
I wanted to make a hanging heart and was wondering how to create an interesting but randomly patterned background. I also thought it would be good to recycle some of the cardboard that is collecting under my craft table! I drew and cut out three hearts and then bound them in Tissue Tape. I wanted a more white washed effect so I gave it a coat of Gesso before adding a few faded, stamped flourishes. and edging my heart in Distress Ink. I wanted to keep the design simple so as not to hide the background and thought two Papillion butterflies, a few Tim words and a rusty key were just enough
 


Suzz decided to use the hearts to create fun tags in a mini pocket book.

I had the sweetest set of tags with pockets  Melissa Frances Bags & Tags which had me thinking how fun it would be to put heart tabs at the end of the tags.  The thought of heart shaped tags had me searching for paper that fit and I found the perfect match with My Minds Eye Honey - The Sweetest Thing.   I added images from the Stampendous Queen Bee to the pockets to float along with the bees on the hearts.  A whimsical mini book with tags to pull out and explore.

Candy's vintage Christmas box affirms the sentiment that all hearts come home for Christmas and is filled with layers and detail.
Christmas is such a special time of year and perfect for creating vintage home decor.  I recently purchased some of Kaiser's new Christmas Turtle Dove collection and they are perfect for this heart shaped paper mache box!  "Merry Christmas" and the banner the snowman is holding are Stamps from Kaiser's Turtle Dove collection.  The textured snowman is Tim Holtz' Winter Wonder with a Mini Heart cut into his tummy. The small snowflakes are Tim Holtz' Mini Snowflakes covered in Snow Tech and embellished with Platinum Stickles, and also edged in Platinum Stickles is Tim Holtz' new Tattered Poinsettia with a Kaiser Turtle Dove Giant Rhinestone center.

 
Anna-Karin had fun altering a wooden heart into a metallic heart with lots of love:
I love mixing different types of metal and this wooden heart was a perfect surface to play on. I covered it with metal foil tape that had been dry embossed, painted, inked and heat embossed. From the heart hangs a little inchie book made from a Vintaj blank embossed with a lovely tree and coloured with patina inks. I hid tiny pages inside the book, and another embossed piece of metal. The heart is embellished with different Tim Holtz Idea-ology pieces, a stamped sentiment, a die cut heart covered with Distress Stickles Rock Candy dry glitter, a Vintaj star and other bits and pieces.

Trace was excited to use up some of her embellishment stash for this Heart project.


 I have always loved hearts, especially on projects, so I knew that I would definitely use one or more for this challenge. My mixed media heart board uses so many different brads, pearls, gemstones and buttons from my stash, which by the way does not look any different even after this project! A few of my favorites are my Hero Arts Pearls and American Crafts Buttons. My favorite tool at the moment is my Epiphany punch dome maker, you can customize your embellishments with any patterned paper to match your project - LOVE that!
 
Dan is getting into a festive mood with this holiday wreath.
I've often thought to myself that the heart on Tim Holtz's "From the Heart" stamp set looks a little like an ivy leaf, so I used it as my starting point for this holiday wreath. I stamped the hearts onto Retro Grunge card stock, which has several sheets of various shades of distressed green, perfect for this project. Other products I used included Glue and Seal Gloss and Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany distress stains. 

 
 Ashli was inspired by this sweet photo of her little girl to scrapbook a page full of hearts.
When I was flipping through my photos and found this picture of my little girl with a heart-shaped mouth, I knew it would be perfect for a page full of hearts. After cutting out a large heart from some Basic Grey Soleil paper, I die cut some more hearts out of vellum using my Tim Holtz Mini Hearts. The softness of the layered vellum adds just the right touch. With all of my hearts layered up and journaling added, I finished things off with some Studio Calico veneers sprinkled around my title.


Terry altered a frame to create a wall hanging with heart.
I do LOVE hearts. I thought it would be fun to make a small project with a huge heart in it. On the frame I used Tissue Tape, Metallic Distress Stain and Metallic Distress Crackle Paint. On top of the frame I used the gorgeous stamp set from Wendy Vecchi. On the background I used Tissue Tape covered with Crackle to give it a fragile look, and I think that worked out really well. The heart was made out of Corrugated Paper and I placed a Spinner on top for more interest and also to hold the chain. Finally, I added a two Corners from The Tim to give it that shiny look of silver and I played around with a little more of the Metallic Distress Stains. 
 
I (May) created a grungeboard ornament that is ready to decorate my tree - or be used as a gift topper.
My one regret about this project is that you can't all come over and see it in person as it is one of those projects that looks so much better in person than it does in a photo. It came out utterly amazing if I do say so myself- and the depth, the layers of color, and the texture that the UTEE I topped this with really add up to make this one of my all time favorite (not quite traditional) ornaments. I have someone very special in mind for this foil covered heart, and I hope that they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed creating it!



Tracy loves hearts and is often referred to as the heart queen due to her obsession with all things heart related, so this was the perfect challenge for her!
I love hearts and dimension so the Art Parts Hearts, Love and Stars were the perfect starting point for my card. I am also a huge lover of flowers and I love the Simon Says Stamp Fresh Daisies Die which I felt worked beautifully with my textural heart. A lovely rich vibrant colour palette was achieved using Dylusions Ink Sprays melted chocolate, postbox red and squeezed orange. There is more involved than first appears with this card!


I encourage you to check out each of the design team member's blogs for more photos, supply lists, and more. Simply click on their name (above the photo of their project) to visit their blog. Also - don't forget to check back Wednesday for an amazing tutorial from our special guest Jim!

Now that we've shared the team creations - we're ready to see yours! As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at 11:59pm Eastern time on Sunday, December 2and and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here.

For the full rules, read the "challenge rules" posted in the side-bar here on our blog.
 





Friday, November 23, 2012

winners: no ink challenge

I'd like to thank everyone who entered our challenge this week, as well as Simon Says Stamp for another great chance to win a $50 voucher!!

The lucky (randomly drawn) winner for the Stamping without Ink challenge is...
 
41 Chris Dark

Please claim your prize within the next two weeks by emailing May with your details. Now let's talk about the top 3 projects as chosen by the Stamp & Show design team. It would seem the number to be this week, was nine! Though I must say I was amazed by the creativity I saw with every entry, and all of the ways you creatively stamped this week. Fantastic stuff- and as always choosing the top 3 was not easy! This week the honors go to: 

9  English Teacher Jurgita
29 Jessica Sporn
39 Julia (S-W)

Be sure to visit their blogs and check out their amazing entries. So inspiring! Congratulations to each of you on a challenge well done! Please email May for the Top 3 Blinkie.
 
I'd like to thank everyone who took part in the challenge. It is always a joy to see what you create. I'd also like to say thank you again to Simon Says Stamp for their generosity - each week we give away a $50 gift voucher to the shop that you can use to buy all kinds of fabulous stamps, inks, and paper crafting supplies. Remember - you just need to enter the challenge each week to be entered into the drawing!

Monday, November 19, 2012

challenge: Thank You

Whether you are getting a head start on making thank you cards for the upcoming holiday, hand crafting a gift in thanks, creating a scrapbook page about someone you love, or an art journal page about things you are thankful for - there are a lot of ways to give thanks this week. We challenge you to say thanks in some way with something you

I (May) will kick things off with my fall inspired thank you card.  

The card I make most often is one of thanks, because I don't think you can ever say that enough, or show enough gratitude to people who have done kind things for you! Now I love my blueprint stamps (no surprise there!) and I thought paired with a simple thanks sentiment and some basic distress ink techniques and a bit of rock candy crackle, I could have a unique card ready to help me express my gratitude.

Candy's thoughts turned to giving thanks and giving little gifts when she created this practical yet inexpensive little note pad.  It's a simple little expression of gratitude that can also be used as a favor at your Thanksgiving dinner table.

For this challenge, I was inspired to create something that is useful yet didn't take a long time to make.  Tim Holtz' Matchbook Set (the larger one) is the perfect size to create a note pad.  I cut two covers from Tim Holtz' vintage Thanksgiving paper in his Seasonal Paper StashQueen's Gold Embossing Powder adds a lot of shimmer to edges.  The Mini Tattered Leaves and Tattered Pine Cones kissed with Paprika and Platinum Stickles are the perfect adornments to create a festive cover.  You can either attach Post It Notes to the interior, or do as I have done and create your own note pad using Kraft Paper and 1/2" Scor Tape.
 
 
Tracy rarely makes thank you cards so this week it was time to put that right and create a thank you card in preparation for the holiday season.
I am really loving the Pop 'n' Cuts at the moment and the Sizzix 3-D Thanks Phrase Pop 'n' Cuts was the inspiration for my piece this week. I love the dimension and the fun element these give to your cards, giving a little more interest to the inside of a card, something we often forget. My cheery flowers were created using Wendy Vecchi's 3 Fresh Flowers Stencil along with rusty hinge, fired brick and peeled paint Distress Inks. To give a little more interest and dimension I have added a Maya Road vintage wood feathered friend along with a few small flowers cut using the Tattered Florals die. You can see more floral delights on the front of my card too!


Thank-you cards are a must have in Trace's card stash!

What I love about making Thank-you cards is that they really can be in any style, and easily custom made just to fit the recipients style and colour preference. I was suffering from ink playing withdrawal, so I knew I had to pull out my Tim Holtz Distress Stains and make my own background papers. After making the two different coloured papers, I over stamped each with two of my favorite Impression Obsession backgrounds stamps. For the top pink panel I used Sm. Quatrefoil, and for the green lower panel I used Tiny Flowers. I had so much fun making the distressed flowers, I started with Tim Holtz Idea-ology grunge paper and coated it with Tim Holtz Crackle Paint in colour picket fence. After it was dry I added a few layers of tattered rose Tim Holtz Distress stain.


Sandra Mouwen is really thankful for all the friends she made this last year, during her creative journey.
I've been papercrafting for a little over a year now and I really want to thank everybody who I've met throughout my crafting adventure! And I'm also very thankful to be on this amazingly talented design team as well!  I started out making a masterboard out of Watercolor paper and misted it with different Dylusions Sprays. To create some texture I sprayed the mini Chevron, mini Punchinella and Luscious Leaves stencils with some water. I made a pattern with the Thank you Words stamps. And the rosette is the smallest of the Mini Rosettes Decorative Strip.
 

This week's challenge was the perfect opportunity for Ashli to reflect on all that she is thankful for. 
I have a special scrapbook that I keep just for myself. It contains silly little layouts about my love of coffee, to more serious layouts about letting go. For this week's theme, I wanted to create a layout with stream of conscious journaling containing all that I am thankful for in my life. The warm colors and cozy feel of the Ready Set Go collection by Amy Tangerine were perfect for this theme. After layering up some strips of paper and stitching them down, some Pink Paislee Wood Shop Alphabets were added. With just a few other little embellishments dotted around, I was left with plenty of space for my journaling. I love having this documented in my album and think I might just have to make this an annual event!
 

Anna-Karin created a little suitcase filled with inked and stamped thank you cards to give as a gift.
I recently read a book where a worn red suitcase played a major role and it made me want to make a vintage red suitcase. I used the great Sizzix Suitcase Bag die (which fits in the Big Shot, it is not a Pro die) and red kraft core cardstock to make the suitcase. It was embellished with stamps from TweetyJill, Graphic45 and Stamper's Anonymous, and with die cut tickets and vintage lace. Inside the suitcase you will find fifteen thank you cards from manila cardstock, coloured with Distress Stains and stamped with many school-themed stamps.
 
 
Suzz was working on her project watching the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy which made her very thankful for all the basic comforts of Home.

The base for my project is a set of chipboard banners.  I painted the banners with acrylic apint and added spray ink over the surface.  The Darkroom Door Home Sweet Home Set seemed the perfect set to reflect my thoughts.  I added some sweet Maya Road Wood Bingo Motifs and Studio Calico Wood Veneer Birds as accents.

 
Dan used a bold typographical design to add punch to his thank you card.
When I planned this card in my head, I was going to colour the lettering, but once I started I decided that it would have much more impact if the lettering was in stark black and white against the richly coloured background.  I cut the lettering and the underlining shadow layer on my Cricut machine, then stamped the letters with images from the Going Somewhere, Dance Card and Steampunk sets.  The background is from the The Countdown set and colour was courtesy of a range of Distress Stains.


Terry really loves hearts....and sure loves her friends, so she made a THANK YOU Soap Chain 
I was sitting at my table and was thinking about a special friend of mine and then it hit me I knew that I wanted to make a Heartsy Soap Chain. It even smells so nice with the heart soaps on it. I played around with lots of hearts and the background is made with distress stains, distress inks and crackle as well to give it a nice crackled surface. For a bit of a romantic look I placed the lace and the pearls in between the hearts. I am not only loving hearts but the people who know me well all know that I am loving Wendy's butterflies, Just flutterby Butterfly and Just Fly, they are amazing, so I just had to place them onto the Soap Chain. They have different colors then I usually work with but they do fit right in don't you think? And last but not least I placed an important sentiment at the bottom of the chain and it says, thank you for being a great friend.


Sarah doesn't normally set fire to her stash, but it was the perfect frame for her big thanks!
Sometimes you just want to say Thank you in a very big way so I was looking for a bold design for my thank you card. I seem to be in a masculine mood again this week and reached for my Grungeboard letters, Blocks and Destinations Paper Stash and, um, yes, set it alight! I did go for a torn look at first,  but it wasn't quite right so I took the plunge and tried a touch of real fire. I love the stripes on this paper and only needed a little stamping from the Mixed Media Dots and then finished I off with a fabulous Word Band.

I encourage you to check out each of the design team member's blogs for more photos, supply lists, and more. Simply click on their name (above the photo of their project) to visit their blog.

Now that we've shared the team creations - we're ready to see yours! As always, Simon Says Stamp is giving away a $50 gift voucher that will go to a random entry chosen by Random Generator. The challenge will close at 11:59pm Eastern time on Sunday, November 25th and the winner will be announced during the following week. To qualify all you need to do is create a new project that ties in (in any way!) with our theme and post it, along with a link back to this challenge, and add a link here.
For the full rules, read the "challenge rules" posted in the side-bar here on our blog.