Punch Art Fun 1 - Look in the Book - page 19

Hi there fellow crafting people,

My question to you on this 'it's-not-quite-gorgeous-but-wait-'til-May' autumn day is...got some balloons to go with those circles?

You know that circles are the best punches to have, right?

Yep, good.

Well, balloons are fab too.

Case and point.

Balloons can be used as, of course, balloons.

Now, who doesn't have birthday cards to make? And the quintessential shape for that (besides, well...besides nothing, actually) is the balloon.

So, balloons on birthday cards - check.

And then we move onto balloons and flowers.

Below they've been used as the petals.

They've also been known to be used as the leaves and even the pot.

Balloons make good pots. Just snip 'em at the top and bottom and a pot you have.

So, balloons when thinking flora - check.

Moving onto fauna.

Did you know there are sub-categories of fauna called megafauna, microfauna (earthworms) and macrofauna (organisms) for example? Me either.

Avifauna is actually bird fauna, which is what we're talking about now.

Moving onto avifauna...it's amazing what a google search will tell ya.

All I'm saying is - balloons make good chooks.

(And good chooks make good eggs. Our chooks do. Good for them)

So, balloons when thinking avifauna - check.

What about avifauna accessories?

Not sure if you'd call an egg an accessory, but it is in the arty "what can I put with this chick on this card?" kind of way.

The purple egg above was a balloon to start with and it ended up as an egg. Eventually Carl came out with an egg punch that size, but the balloon was a good option for years.

So, balloons when thinking chicks, eggs and accessories - check.

Ah, and here we are (finally) at the crux of page 19 in Punch Art Fun for everyone - balloons are great when making Insects and Bugs.

I turned before to page 19 to get ready to write this post and those happy butterflies and especially the bee (that looks like he's saying 'hi') made me smile.

They always do that.

If you haven't already, turn to page 19 and see if that bee right in the middle doesn't make you smile too.

He's just so gorgeous - love him.

(He's got balloons for wings too)

Here's one of the happy butterflies.

He's changed his colours for this card, but he's happy about it.

Note the balloons - they're all over the place. As wings, as the inside of the wings, as the body parts.

See?

Balloons...great punches, hey?

They make great fly bodies too.

Now, I don't know if you'd have much occasion to make flies from punch art, but if you do, you'll have the punches to make them if you have some balloons.

Flies are a popular resident here in Australia. Knowing how to make them is not essential, but knowing how to swat them is. They're not bad in the city (unless you've got a dog that poops all over the yard), but in the country you need a good swatting style, and in the outback...well, you have to bring out the big guns like corks hanging from your hat.

Then there's the really big guns...mesh from your hat. Stops them dead. Well, not dead, but stops them from getting up your nose, and in your mouth. Ever swallowed a fly? Not pleasant. Ever sniffed up a fly? I haven't, but I'm sure someone has!

Oh yeah, don't forget the Aeroguard and have avagoodweekend.

Last point of the day - just as you have circles in all sizes known to man and dog, it's good to have balloons in all sizes known to woman and bee too.

Look at those little ones up there. Little balloons with even littler circles. Gotta pull out the fine motor skills to make these and not have any glue showing. That's a challenge in itself, isn't it? :o)

When starting out with punch art, a clear liquid glue that takes a little longer to dry is a good option. It gives you time to move things and adjust them. As you progress in your skill and confidence, moving onto a quick, fast-drying, white glue is good.

This is the one I use (if it's on my desk, and it's not at the moment, so I'm using anything I can get my hands on). I get it from Big W.

I like it because it dries fast, which means I can work quickly and things stay where I put them.

The trick with any glue is not to over apply. Too much and things buckle, move around, take too long to dry and all that jazz. Just a little and it sticks more quickly and you can move on. You can always put a bit more on if you didn't put enough there to begin with. Much easier than taking some off :o)

Okay, hopefully this is the last point for the day - above are some good sticky helpers.

The yellow one with the blue name is called the Quick Stik (from QuicKutz) - it has a sticky substance on the end that the punch art bits stick to. The other is the Jewel Picker (for beading, I think) from Marvy. The red tip is the sticky part and you can wash it with soapy water if it loses it's stickiness. They're great tools.

And these. A pair of these is good too. They're hockey stick tweezers. You may not need them as much if you have a sticky helper, but they're still good to have around.

Some people are sticky helper people and some people are tweezer people. I'm both for different applications. It depends if I've just cut my nails too.

Summary of today: Balloon punches = good.

Nice.

:o)