Project - The Little Engine that Could

This photo is proof of how much of a nerd I am!  I am SO proud of this project and I wanted to make sure my photo captured my excitement and just how cool it really is.  So I grabbed Coulter's train tracks (it is so different having 'boy' toys in the house) and my camera and headed outdoors on Monday afternoon.  Isn't he cute?!?!  I wonder where he is going carrying his load of colouring tools?!?!? *Wink!*

So this is Kaiser Craft's Train Tidy.  I used Crate's School Spirit line to create this cheery little Choo-choo train!  Now you have to understand how obsessed my 2-year old is with trains at this moment and he was my main reason for choosing this project.  My plan was to have this done for his birthday (back in August) but I'm so glad that it didn't fit into my schedule until now because the paper wasn't out then!  See, maybe a little procrastination is good!




Centre Car - Choo Choo

Have I told you how much I LOVE this paper?  I was telling someone the other day that my two favourite lines right now have to be Crate's School Spirit and Restoration.  The texture and weight of this paper is just gorgeous.  You would think I was working for Crate with the amount of times I have raved about their paper lately!

So you can see that the cargo on this load are my kids colour tools.  Actually the kids do not use my copics but I didn't have any of their markers left with lids on them so I had to grab some markers that would look good in the shoot!  The size of the containers are just perfect too.  The engine has a smaller 'box' and is ideal for crayons.  The two remaining cars have ample rooms for loads and loads of markers and pencil crayons. 

How to get this look...

There are some basic supplies that I always grab for when I am working on a project like this:

• Perfect Paper Adhesive by US Art Quest (Matte) - it isn't tacky or messy and you can use it not only to glue the paper down but you can use it to seal the paper
• Tsuki's Squeegee - to help glue the paper down wrinkle free
• Acrylic Paint from the Dollar Store - cheap and great to cover the raw MDF board
• Ink for distressing (usually brown or black) and a sponge dauber
• A chosen Paper Collection (did I mention I used School Spirit by Crate Paper? ha!) - the paper, stickers and die cuts were used from this collection
•  A raw project....usually from KaiserCraft (the product is so strong but also very easy to manipulate with tools like sandpaper, crop-a-dile, scissors, etc.) and the products are also quite inexpensive which is always a plus! Only $15.99 for this dimensional train!

Other Products I used:



Glossy Accents on tires to add dimension

You will notice that I often grab for Glossy Accents and Crackle Accents to add some dimension to my projects.  You will see the Glossy Accents used on the tires and the Crackle Accents used on the star.

I used Impression Obsession's stamp to add some texture to the tires

 

There are holes pre-punched in each of the pieces to string the 

Crackle Accents to the star

elements together if you want.  I thought it was best if each piece remained separate just in case Jules wanted the pencils and Coulter wanted the crayons.  But, I wanted to give the appearance that the cars were attached to the engine.  This is the reason I used the twine on the front and left them a little longer rather than cutting them the exact length of the car.  I then stapled the two pieces together and then used Scor-Tape to tack it down. 

So what do you think?  You will have to stop in and see it for yourself!  I will be posting more gift-type projects over the next few weeks so stay tuned!

PS.....The class schedule will be out Thursday!!!!