~~July Challenge~~

[Wingus]

G'day, G'day!! July already, can you believe it?!? Where has the year gone already? It also seems an age since I've been in the CR Forum - lots has happened to me this year. Unfortunately, that "lots" has not included much crafting or roboing at all. But never mind!

Since my mojo has gone walkabouts, Holmesmade (Sue) suggested we team up as she had a great idea. So without further ado, we present to you this months challenge!

Have you ever used that little black "looks-a-bit-like-a-teeny-rocket-with-a-growth" thingy that came with your Robo?!? It's called a pen-holder and amazingly, you can stick a pen into it, stick it in your Robo and DRAW designs with it!

Yes! This months challenge is based around what you can do with your pen holder. If you are anything like me, you have a huge stash of gorgeous pens just crying out to be used. So what can you come up with in terms of drawing designs. In addition to cutting designs as well if you are that clever!

But not only do we want to see your gorgeous design creations, we were also wanting to amass a collection of tips and tricks with using the pen holder. What can you suggest??

(Please note, if you suggest a great font to use, please make sure that it is a public domain font, ie. freely available. If possible, please include the full name and designer and a source for your font at the time of posting - as we all know font sites can change in a blink of an eye.)

Attached are the first two gorgeous examples (from Sue ) of what you can do using Robo to draw your design. Now over to you. Let's see your designs and your tips and tricks!

[Wingus]

Here are another two gorgeous examples from Holmesmade. These two include both drawing AND cutting!

[Wingus]

I use my pen primarily for drawing out designs to see if they'll cut well. I don't want to waste precious cardstock if I don't know how a design is going to cut, so I use scrap paper (of which I take unwanted/erroneously printed papers from my office) and draw out the designs. This way I can see how the design looks and how it will cut. This also saves my blade and cutting mat.

[Wingus]

I like to use pens that have a good ink flow, like gel pens. Pilot and Uni-ball gel pens work really well, if you slow down the speed to 1 to let the gel dry a bit before going back over the design.

I've also used Staedtler and Artliner Fine Liners which turn out really beautiful.

I haven't used the Sakura pens as you need the larger pen holder, so let us know if you have and how they turn out!

[Wingus]

Here's another tip from Sue (Holmesmade):

Using the glue pen template from the Crafty Club site (put some repositional spray or glue on the back) and a Quickie glue pen – low speed and pressure, write a message or draw an outline etc, through the window and sprinkle with glitter or use foil - great effects can be achieved.

[silverst170]

Great Challenge Winnie & Sue. I don't think anyof us use that pen holder enough on our machines, so this months challenge will get us all going

[Fuschia]

Great challenge Winnie and Sue and fab designs to start us off.

Can you tell us what fonts were used and how you did the coloured writing under the rainbow please?

[Wingus]

I'll check with Sue for you Anne. She didn't mention what fonts she used when she sent me the files.

[Lucille]

Excellent challenge ladies, we do get a lot of questions about using pens this will help a lot of people.

[Myra]

A great Challenge, thank you ladies. The samples are very enticing. A tip about pens that are too small for the holder; wind some electricians tape around the bit of the pen that fits in the holder to make it the right size. Never be without electricians tape! It mends all sorts of things here, I used it today to mend a leak in a watering can spout, also for mending a hole in the vacuum cleaner hose, it has all sorts of uses

[bendog]

That reminds me of a friend of mine who maintains that you need just 2 things in your toolbox: WD40 and Duck Tape.

If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40; if it does move and shouldn't, use the tape!!

[Holmes-made]

Hiya!

Just popped in to see how we are doing and was delighted that the Hints and tips are beginning to start rolling -brilliant use of electricians tape - is that the same as gaffa tape?

I have put the names of fonts on the templates to help build up a list of the ones you can see work for me. To make the multi-coloured caption under the rainbow, I wrote the whole message in black to determine the size and spacing, then I copied and pasted the whole and then deleted the part of the message I didn't want and placed that over the original changing the colour of the line, e.g. 'Hope' in purple, (don't be tempted to do all the parts of the message which are the same colour together - the spacing will go wrong). Continue through the message or title and finally delete the original black message. HTMS

Looking forward to the ideas you all have, happy playing!
Sue
PS If you draw the maze design and watch the robo you will work out just how easy it was to design!

[Wingus]

Doh! I didn't even think to look in the files themselves for the font name!! Thanks Sue!

Duck tape - do you all remember Macgyver?!?

AFAIK, gaffa tape is the same as electricians tape. Thanks for the tip Myra!

[Lucille]

Electrical tape is narrow rubbery and usually black, but you can get it in other colours, ducktape is usually a lot wider, so don't confuse the 2 as the electrical tape would be a better option.

[Fuschia]

Thanks for the explanation Sue, sounds interesting but I must be having a thick day as usual, lol. Did you print the message then or did you use the pen tool to colour it in? It looks great whichever way you did it.