DT Project #1 by Astrid Dance to the Music of the Times

Hello dear Snazzys visitors and welcome to our DT Blog!!!

Regulars will know that this month we are featuring some wonderful Steampunk cogs and wheels from The MDF Man and we had free range as what to do with. A challenge? - definitely.... great fun? - for sure!!

Make sure to scroll down to see what my wonderful teamies have created so far and if you want a chance to win a set of these fab blanks, leave a comment on this post.

Well, as to my project, after tossing around all sorts of things in my head, in the end the best I could come up with is another piece of wall art, not very original, but I had great fun playing around with paints, sprays, texture paste and inks. I started off by arranging 4 of the cogs together in an arrangement that I liked and then I glued them together with thick gel medium. Next I added texture paste through various stencils and masks. Snazzys has a great selection of these available. Following that, I added various Steampunk embellishments, again Snazzys has a fab collection and then I coated it all in a thick layer of Gesso. While that was drying I stamped my vocal image, a La Blache steampunk stamp from my stash with Black Archival Ink, cut it out with a circle die and put it aside.

Back to the cogs, - once the Gesso had dried I added various background stamps, partly straight to the mdf and partly onto tissue paper which I then glued to the piece in strips. Then the fun of colouring  mdf pieces with various inks and sprays started. When I was happy the results, I highlighted the raised bits with two colours of Treasure Gold and coloured my stamped image with Distress Inkpads in Peacock Feather, Chipped Saphire, Dusty Concord and Walnut stain..

For the background piece I covered a piece of 12 x 12 chipboard with music paper from my stash, inked and stencilled the edges and then glued the mdf to it. Finally I glued on my vocal image and computer generated a sentiment which I curled, inked and fastened with a Tim Holtz ideaology pen nib.

Here are some more close ups:

Well that's it from me for this time, - don't forget to come back next Monday to see what Hels will have created for you!

Until then ....

DT Project # 2 by Astrid

Featuring Tim Holtz "Halloween Blueprint" stamps & Carta Bella "All Hallow's Eve" paper collection

Hello everyone, I'm back with my second project for this week. This time I decided to make a foldout tag holder that could be used as a Halloween gift for a special friend.

This is how I went about making it:

1. For the holder, cut a strip of Brown A4 Kraft card 12 cm wide length wise and score at 9.5 cm, and 12.5 cm along the long side.

2. Shape the shortest end piece for the flap, either with a die, a template or you could even just sketch a shape by hand.

3. Cut 3 pieces of one of the papers to 0.5 smaller than your 3 panels, sand the edges to bring out the white core of the paper and then ink them a bit. I used Dusty Concord Distress Inks. I also added a few spritzes of Ancient Copper Cosmic Shimmer mist. Glue to the outside of the holder and then add two brads for the closure. Do this before lining the inside of the holder!

4. For the inside, choose a different paper and line as before, I used the same inks and spray to alter the paper a bit. I created a pocket for the tag with a Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers die and then used one of the Tim Holtz Blue print stamps, embossed with Wow Vanilla White embossing powder. I darkened the edges a bit with some Dusty Concord and added a bit of colour with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. I also added some bits from the sticker sheet that comes with the collection.

5. The bottom and top flaps were decorated in similar ways:

I used a white pen to add eyes to the cat and give it a bit of definition. Here you can see the whole inside:

6. The tag was made with a Manila Tag, cut a bit shorter to fit in the pocket. I Inked it with the same two inks and I also used a small chicken wire stencil to add a bit more interest. Again I embellished with stickers from the collection.

The final step was to embellish the outside with some little sprocket grears and other steampunky bits. Snazzys stock their own collection of these! The holder can be closed with some raffia wrapped wire wound around the two brads. Here you can see the tag inside the holder:

Well that's it from me for this month. Don't forget to come back on Monday when the wonderful Hels will have some amazing projects to show you!