Monday 3 September 2012

Feeling Blue?

I am... but in a good way! :D

Creative Craft World are celebrating their sixth birthday with a rainbow-tastic DT blog hop! Each day a member of the Design Team will be sharing a stunning colour-themed project on their blog, there's some prizes along the way, and if you follow the entire blog hop, leave a comment on every DT blog and then comment on the blog hop post at the Creative Craft World challenge blog, you will be entered into a draw to win a fabulous prize - the gold at the end of the rainbow! :)

So what are you waiting for? Get hopping! :D

We've already enjoyed Susi's Red project, Sarah's Orange project, Michelle's Yellow project and you've hopefully come here from visiting Trish's Green project. If you've missed any of the previous projects, make sure you go and check them out now! :)

Today I will be sharing my Blue creation and from here you need to carry on to Sue's blog where tomorrow she will be sharing her Indigo project.

For my project I decided to combine one of my favourite crafting pastimes - ATCs - with my long-held desire to make/decorate a printer's tray. And this was the result:

I've long lusted after the 7 Gypsies ATC printer's trays but somehow never quite gotten around to splashing the cash to get one... so I thought.. why not make my own? :)

I started off with two sheets of plain white mountboard and on the first sheet I used a pencil and ruler to mark out a grid for the tray. ATCs are always 3½" by 2½" so I measured out the "boxes" on my tray to slightly larger than that 39/16" by 29/16" with a ¼" gap between each box and a slightly larger (7/32") border around the edges.

I then took my metal ruler and a craft knife and cut out the boxes, leaving myself a 9-aperture frame.

Tip: If you want a "deeper" tray, at this stage you could repeat this part and make a second frame section and then layer them on top of each other when assembling the tray.

I then took the second piece of mountboard and drew around the outside of my frame and cut a piece of mountboard to fit behind the frame.

And now for the fun part... decorating! :)

I started by spraying both the frame and the background section with a selection of spray inks, some with mica, some not (I used Dylusions and Cosmic Shimmer sprays). Tip: I also used a paint brush dipped into a spray ink bottle to add ink to the insides of the apertures and also around the outside edges of the frame, where the spray inks had not given a complete coverage, so as not to have any white patches showing through.

I allowed the inks to dry and then used a spatula to scrape some glass bead texture gel here and there onto the frame section.

Once the texture gel had dried, I used my fingertip to rub some Inka Gold onto the texture gel areas and here and there randomly onto the frame.

Then it was simply a matter of attaching the frame to the background. I wanted a good, firm hold so I used red high tack tape.

And that was the tray finished.

To make the ATCs, I cut a piece of card 7½" by 10½" (so big enough to cut into 9 ATCs) and used Tim Holtz's Marbled Stains technique (using Distress Stains in Picket Fence, Broken China, Faded Jeans and Wild Honey) to colour it. I then cut the coloured card into my 9 ATCs and background stamped them with a variety of Tim Holtz stamps in Broken China Distress Ink, before stamping a focal image on each card using black Archival Ink. To finish, I added Glossy Accents to accentuate the word LIFE on the cental ATC.

Et voila! I attached my ATCs into the tray using Tombow glue which I allowed to dry fully, making it repositionable. So if I wanted to, I could remove these ATCs from the tray and put different ones in. But, to be honest, I don't think I'll ever want to! ;)

I'm going to enter this project into a few challenges:
Anything But A Card - Anything Goes
Gingerloft Challenge - Birds of a Feather
Great Impressions - Sentimental Journey
The Crafty Pad - Anything But Square
2 Sisters - Primary Colours
Inspire Me Fridays - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you're enjoying the blog hop and that you found my little printer's tray tutorial useful. Don't forget to visit and comment on all the other projects in the in the hop to be in with a chance of winning the gold at the end of the rainbow!

I am also be offering a little prize as part of the blog hop - all you need to do is comment and be or become a follower of my blog. I will select one commenter at random to win a mystery box of blue goodies culled from my crafty stash! :D

And now... let's finish with a song! Who else remembers this? :)


54 comments:

Christina Hicks said...

Thats just about one of the neatest things I have seen in a long time. And since I too am not planning on splurging on a tray, think I will try this. As soon as I find mountboard lol. Great fabulous job!

LoraineC said...

How clever a great idea I am getting some wonderful ideas. I have bookmarked your blog so I can visit. Didn't think I knew the song till it got to the chorus now I can't get it out of my head!!!

Sarah said...

Oh wow!! Ali this is awesome...love the colours....and such a better way to have one of those print trays!!! Hugs Sarah xxxx

Marianne's Craftroom said...

Fantastic project. Love the colpur and some of my fave stamps too.

Maria said...

Oh this is a beautiful project, and a great way of doing it rather than having to buy a great big thick printers tray. I must try this.

Jimjams said...

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous Ali - and much more satisfying that simply decorating a bought tray! Thanks for the video link too - great fun start to the day!

Hannah said...

Such a great project Ali. I'm going to have to try and make myslef one of the printer trays now :)

Sarah's Little Snippets said...

Lovely work Ali, and a fab tutorial too :) I love how you made the ATC's removable just in case you ever want to change it! Sarah x

susibee said...

Stunning Ali, I absolutely love it - I have nearly all those stamps too. Definitely book marked to have a go. Thanks for sharing.

butterflyamanda said...

this is my fav colour and your project is amazing tfs huggs Amanda

Unknown said...

Love this Ali.....your work always leaves me saying WOW!! The blue is so rich...xx

sixofone aka Leah said...

Fabulous. Thanks for a great tutorial. Will def give it a try

Crafty Mamma Mia said...

Hi Ali - what an inspired creation! Neat idea and a great tutorial too. Love the ATCs too ... very vintage! Thanks for sharing this project at The Crafty Pad in our "Anything but Square" challenge this week.
Helen x (DT)

Julia S-W said...

Your tray is simply stunning and I love it - ALL! Great idea to make your own and I'm with you on that one. I really like the look of your glass bead texture gel stuff - must find out more about that! The Tim stamps speak to me every time I see them so they get my vote too! If all that wasn't enough you clever lady you, I then find that you've repositionable glue so you can change your display - not sure why you'd want to though!
When I clicked the song on I thought: no, never heard this one so must be my age but then as it went on I remember it as one of those annoying tunes that stays with you for days on end!! Thanks for that Ali - NOT!!! Great art.
Thanks for showing us your amazing piece at ABAC for the first challenge.
Juliaxxx

Choccy said...

WOW Ali an absolutely stunning project !! How fantastic that you made your own tray too.
A gorgeous project with a fantastic tutorial.

Choccy xx

MiniOwner said...

Wow and wow! I've been looking forward to this ever since I saw the sneak peek and I wasnlt disappointed. It is brilliant and I will definitely be making one. Thank you.

Sue xx

Nicky Stevenson said...

Great project, love the texture and such a lovely shade of blue.

Anonymous said...

Eifel 65 were awesome! Amazing work, Ali! Xxx

Love crafts forever said...

Wow Ali!!!!! This is so freaking gorgeous!!!! I love it.
Hugs Nat

Trish said...

Great idea Ali! It looks fab (am just thinking how good it would be to do this on the Cameo and just stack up loads of sheets to get the required thickness....hmmm...)
Very inspirational!
Trish x

Lydia said...

my golly gosh.... this is fab xxxx love the idea and a great way to save some pennies xxx

Dawn said...

Thanks for playing at The Crafty Pad this week with you fab creation & wonderful Tut!
Good Luck
Hugs
Dawn x
Don't forget to enter out month long BCA/Think Pink Challenge

Sarah x said...

This looks great! I love the glass texture gel xx

Rachel said...

Gorgeous Ali!! I love the colours and textures x

Margaret said...

Your handmade printer's tray is brilliant! Leaves more $ for crafting supplies!! Like the gorgeous ATCs you made! I love how your stamped images are all symbolic in their own way of the wonderful sentiment in the center!

Thanks so much for joining us at Anything But a Card Challenges!

Katherine said...

I love it all that inky goodness in one of my favourite colours.....I still have my printers tray which I really need to decorate....bit scared tho as it is quite big and could take me a long while :D

Katherine said...

I love it all that inky goodness in one of my favourite colours.....I still have my printers tray which I really need to decorate....bit scared tho as it is quite big and could take me a long while :D

Lou said...

Gorgeous Ali, the inks are fab if only I was as good at inking things, its beautiful and yes I remember that song! LOL

Lou x

Claire said...

Gorgeous printers tray Ali, I've never thought to make one myself, I normally just buy them plain & alter them but I think I'll give this a go.
Cxx

K said...

Oooo, lovely project! I've never heard of glass bead texture gel before, looks like something I should investigate :)

Carolyn Dube said...

What a great project! I love all the rich blues with such great layers!!

Scattychick said...

Oh Ali this is just gorgeous I am so going to be doing this x

Anonymous said...

Great tutorial, love the colours.
xx

CarlaKH said...

wowza! I am in awe! I soooo love this idea! I am definitely gonna use it! I have a lot of ATCs I would like to display and this is PERFECT! Your collection is just gorgeous...love the color scheme. Thanks so much for joining us at Anything But a Card!

Anonymous said...

wow!! Fantastic creation! love this idea! Thanks for playing with us @ 2 Sisters this week.
Hugs,
Jill

PAC CHARITY CARDS said...

Fantastic work and a great take on our birds of a feather challenge. I love your design so wonderful.

Thanks for joining us at gingerloft

Caz

Suzy said...

Now that is just stunning - I love those colours - my favourites. Will definately have a go - thanks for sharing and for your fab instructions

fatmonica said...

This is fabulous!Thanks for the instructions-might have to give it a go!

Christine said...

This is FAB! Thank you for such clear instructions & pics :)

Susanne said...

Wow, that looks like a lot of work. Your finished product is just fabulous. I have yet to decorate a premade tray - which, of course, I have already purchased. Maybe this will give me the nudge.

Christy said...

Okay, yeah...that is just ALL KINDS OF GORGEOUS!!! You put a lot of work into it and it definitely shows. Thanks for joining us at ABAC :) :)

Amanda said...

That is such a gorgeous project, and much more satisfying to make rather than buy the frame/tray.

Words and Pictures said...

Absolutely delicious project... amazing colours and stamping. I've always loved printers' trays - and the thought that I could just make unlimited numbers of them wouldn't have occurred to me - thank you so much for the inspiration!
Alison x

Erin said...

Brilliant idea creating your own printers tray! Love the project! Thanks for playing with us at Great Impressions Stamps!

Karen said...

Absolutely wow!! Love the colours and the paint effects and love the 'homemade' printer's tray - I can feel a project coming on ! thanks for sharing xxx

furrypig said...

gosh that is stunning thanks for the inspiration

Fran said...

Wow this is really amazing Ali I so wish I could achieve something like this.

Terri said...

Love the effect of the different blue and green spray inks together and the fact that you made your own tray. Always love your atc's - so much detail in such little space!!!

Pat said...

What a good idea making your own printer tray. Very nice !

Yolanda said...

This is soooo amazing I will have to try this out.

sharon said...

Gorgeous project, will definitely be trying this, thanks for sharing x

Alyna said...

hi
this is so beautiful. thanx for teaching us to make it. totally love everything about it.
thank for joining us in gingeloft challenge :)
hugs
Alyna

Jess said...

Beautiful project! Love the color combo and the tutorial! Thanks for joining us at ABAC!

Susan M. Brown {sbartist} said...

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous "Blue" faux ATC shadow inspiration box for everyone at ABAC! I too love those shadow boxes - and would love to use them in many projects. Your tutorial is the perfect solution. PINNING!!!

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