Purple Glitter in My Paper Cut, Thanks Justin Bieber!

Over the years, my kids have become numb to the weird and wondrous stuff that leaves my studio.  They know, with a little smile and a hug, that I'll turn the studio upside down to create whatever their aspiring art director hearts desire.  Sucker!  Well, the prince of pop, Justin Bieber was coming to town and my daughter's studio wish list was submitted for my consideration.  "Oh, Dad...I don't want to ask for too much, but do you think you can make me a T-shirt and a sign?," she asked with a smile.  "I promised my friends you would make them some too!," she slipped in at the end.  Sucker!

Cut up t-shirts

What's a dad to do?  Get busy of course!  For the t-shirts we cut up the lower part of Bieber purple t-shirts and knotted them to create a fringed look.  I had recently acquired a Silhouette cutting system, so I thought I'd put it to task cutting out her text of choice to use as a reversed stencil, which was Belieber #1.   Placing the stencil on the shirt acts as a mask for the fabric spray paint.

With a few coats of Simply Spray's stencil spray, the purple was covered.  Peeling the stencil revealed the purple shirt color underneath.

She wanted signs to catch the attention of the local radio station, who was giving away seat upgrades.  If she and her two friends each had a part of the sign then for sure they'd upgrade all three of their tickets.

For the signs, I cut out the stations logo in black foam core in two sizes.  One was covered with glue and glittered black and silver.  The other was coated in purple.  Sandwiched in between the layers, I duct taped little battery operated LED lights.  Her favorite part was using two print outs of Mr. Bieber's face as the centers of the zeros.

Decked out in their Bieber wares, holding their flashy signs did the trick!  They caught the attention of the pop star reviewing the crowd from above.

Justin Bieber gives the girls two thumbs up.

As for the seat upgrades, well... the radio station was only upgrading tickets from the upper levels to the floor, which they already had.   Oh well... they we're rewarded by catching his attention and receiving the two thumbs up from the purple pop star.

 She and her friends had a great time.   Which makes it all worthwhile.  Now, if only I could get the purple super fans to help clean up the whirlwind of glitter that's everywhere in the studio and wedged in the "blood, sweat and tears" paper cut I gave myself wrestling the lights onto the foam core.

Thank you Justin Bieber for the opportunity to bond with my girl, her friends and sport bits of purple glitter.  I guess if you can be the purple pop-star, I can be the purple glittered craft dad.

What kind of extraordinary crafty things have you created to make your kids happy?

Men Scan Too! - A Men's Crafty Blog Hop

When author, TV personality and designer Kathy Peterson sent me an email saying she needs a man, I almost clicked the spam button.  Sure, she and I are Facebook banterers keeping each other's spirits high with humor and accolades, but this proclamation had me perplexed.  In reading further, that was just the tip of the iceberg, she needed five men.  Now, before I lead you on too far and tarnish the respectable and admirable reputation of the talented KP, let me share with you her exciting idea.

In association with Flip-Pal ©, Kathy was assembling her team of Men, five men who create.  Her invitation was for us to test drive the mobile scanner, that was awarded the Craft and Hobby Associations Innovation award in 2010.
  

The Flip-Pal© Mobile Scanner features battery operated portability and a removable front cover for on-the-go scanning.

To run it through it's paces with a different breed of animal, joining me are the talented Suede Baum - Fashion designer and TV personality from the Project Runway, Ken Oliver - The Accidental Crafter, Martin Amado - Interior designer and HGTV design host, and Mark Montano - Author of The Big Ass Book of Crafts.

While my resume of notoriety is dwarfed by these high profile men of design, Kathy knows that my magical world of Embellishments can put any product through a warfare of art and craft.  I'll put it to the test and share with you how it does keeping up with kid's design, prop making and the overall theme overload we see here in the studio.  I unwrapped mine today and have just begun to play with it.

Every Thursday during December, the guys and I will be updating our blogs with our Flip-Pal© experiences and sharing our creations.  To keep with the "man" theme, I wonder if we all scan our manly abs, could we start a Men of Flip-Pal calendar?  I better scan and crunch, scan and crunch
Crunch...1,2,3...Crunch 4,5,6... whew!  Could I please have a stunt double, or an ab stand in?

Here are links to my cohorts.
Happy Hopping!
-Aaron

Suede Baum - http://suedesays.com/blog    
Ken Oliver - http://kensworldinprogress.blogspot.com/
Martin Amado - http://www.martinamado.com/
Mark Montano - http://markmontanoblogs.blogspot.com/


In full disclosure, I was provided a complimentary Flip-Pal© Mobile Scanner to use and review.  Even though I've received this item for free, I will give you my honest opinion about it regardless, that's how I roll.  I'd encourage you to explore the product's capabilities and features on your own to form your own opinion.