FOAM AND DISPLAY BOARD:
· 9” x 12” Mini Bi-Fold Foam Board

X-ACTO:
· Designer Series Gripster Craft Knife
· Designer Series 12” Metal Ruler
· Designer Series 12” X 12” Self Healing Mat
· Designer Series 8” Scissors
· Designer Series 5” Precision Tip Scissors
· Designer Series Basic Shape Templates
· Designer Series Decorative Shape Templates

PAINTERS:
· Painters Bright Colors
· Painters Sherbet Swirl

CRAFTBOND:
· Dot Runner
· Foam Mounting Tape
· Thin Medium Glue Spots
· All Purpose Glue Stick
· Quick Dry Dual Tip Glue Pen
· Elmer’s Designer Tape

Just leave a comment below telling me what awesome project (holiday project???)  this box would inspire you to do, and by random selection you can win your own box. Tweeting about this also counts as a second entry, as they show up in the comments as well. Be sure to stop by and visit the Elmer’s Craft it! facebook site, too!

{Contest is Closed! Stay tuned for the winner as soon as I’m not on death’s door with this cold…!}

The lovely people at Klutz sent me a copy of their fun little craft book, Fabulous Flowers, to check out, and I get to pass along some of that goodness to you!

And in the true spirit of Dabbled, I have made myself a paper flower from the book so I can give you the full scoop.  That’s down below the contest, so read on…

It’s basically a bunch of easy to create paper flowers, with instructions and supplies all included.  Except for scissors, you really don’t need anything else.  The flower shapes are all pre-cut, making it much easier for kids (or adults without much patience, like me!) to get right to the creation process, without spending so much time on prep work.

All in all, it would be a great gift for a someone who’d like to craft, but who is a little intimidated to try things like this on their own.  The techniques are well explained and documented step by step.  It does require some patience, as you have to glue pieces together, but the paper cutouts are a great headstart in putting the flowers together.  It also encourages creativity, as it gives you different ideas for putting them together in different ways–not tying you to following everything step by step if you want to play around.  I could totally see this as a great gift for a tween aged girl.

It also gave me some cool ideas for other projects I could do, not necessarily from the book, using the techniques provided!

The Contest!

So, I have two copies to give away to you, my lovely readers (at least those with US/Canada mailing addresses).  I’d love to use this as an opportunity to learn from you guys, so to enter, just leave a comment with an interesting fact about yourself, or why you like to read Dabbled.  For an extra entry, tweet about this to your friends (I’m @dotatdabbled), share it on facebook, and/or go Like our Facebook Page.  It’s totally honor system–because you guys are honest, I know–, so just let me know in the comments which extra entries you did.

My Attempt:

Bottom line, the directions were easy to follow, and even though I did mine pretty ‘quick and dirty’, it still came out looking pretty nifty!

About the Book

Let your creativity bloom with this book of can’t-go-wrong instructions for life-sized, dimensional, paper blossoms inspired by our favorite flowers: roses, daisies, daffodils, hibiscus, zinnias, cosmos, poppies, and larkspur. Sparkly embellishments, fresh paper colors, whimsical design variations, and a custom shaping tool give these blossoms a twist that’s pure Klutz — and quite possibly, even prettier than the real thing.

As always, Klutz has packaged the book with everything you need to get started: 20 pages of ready-to-punch-out paper petals, sparkly flower centers, wrapped wire stems, glue, and of course, the custom winding tool — enough stuff to make bunches of flowers.

•  Watch a video clip http://bcove.me/oa8haqe4
• ‘Like’ Klutz on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KlutzBooks

Ages 8+   $19.99

So, see the details above and enter to win your own!  Open to US/Canada mailing addresses only.

Congratulations to Jeanne at The Candy Corn Chronicles for winning the People’s Choice Award for her delightfully creepy Anti-Valentines entry: Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder.

Thanks, Jeanne, for playing, and email me at holiday -at- dabbled.org, please!

To all the finalists, your stuff was great! Be sure to grab a finalist button here (at the bottom of the Judges’ Picks post) to show off your coolness. And Jeanne, you can get your Winner button here as well!

Be on the lookout for future contests. Last year we had a fun April Fool mini contest, which we’ll be repeating this year in March. Not sure if Summer Doldrums is making a repeat appearance, but we will certainly be having another World Famous Halloween Extravaganza and Contest in the Fall, so stay tuned!

And hey, if you’re new to Dabbled, don’t miss a thing and Subscribe via Email or feedreader*… or Follow Dabbled on Blogger!

See all the Anti-Valentine’s Winners here:
Overall Winners HERE, Check out the Finalists HERE, and Art Winners HERE.

In other news, an update on some of the Cephalopods that swam off to new homes. Bella Sinclair requested the little blue octopus and it made it to Japan – I love her little diver swimming with it! Here are two more that were custom created Valentines gifts from the Valentines Day Special. And the auction for Ethel is over–she’s on her way to Nevada, and her proceeds have gone to the relief efforts for the Australian bushfires!
Want one for yourself? Email me or check out my Artfire Shop.

*(Don’t have a feed reader? Follow a bunch of blogs? I recommend Google Reader). If ya don’t know what this RSS stuff is, read this.

The top picks, and his comments:
1) Missed it by This Much – I loved the craftsmanship that went into this piece! Well thought out and executed. The tiny arrows sealed the deal for me.
2) Cat-pid – I’m a big fan of cartoon-y art. I dig the expression on the cat’s face. It’s kinda like it’s his 1st day on the job, and he’s not quite sure what he’s doing.
3) Caged Heart I’m also a huge fan of really graphic work. The red/black combination is very striking. This could easily be a tattoo.
4) Impasse The negative space created by the white forms in this piece really caught my eye. Also the one little splash of red really adds something.

Winners, email me, and feel free to go snag yourself a nifty little Winner button HERE.

Go take a look at all the cool finalists!

Caged Heart
Not a Valentine
Cat-pid
Cupid Missed
Impasse
Vacuum Card
Barry White

PS: Voting is open til tuesday for the People’s Choice Award — spread the word and go vote for up to 3 favorites from the main contest.

Realizing that all our judges are crafters rather than illustrators (as far as I know – they *are* multi-talented!) I added an additional judge to this round as well… Aaron of Near and Far webcomic (also one of our fabulous sponsors!).

PS: Voting is open til tuesday for the People’s Choice Award — spread the word and go vote for up to 3 favorites.

So, the hand picked art finalists —

Caged Heart
Not a Valentine
Cat-pid
Cupid Missed
Impasse
Vacuum Card
Barry White

—winners announced tomorrow! (Because I like to torture you–it IS anti-valentines and the terms of the contract clearly state that I can torture you.)
– 2/20/09 : Go HERE for Winners

First off, a special thanks to our lovely judges:
The lovely and ingenious Diane, of Craftypod , the clever and delightful Alice, of Futuregirl and the charming and talented Rachel, of Average Jane Crafter. These ladies did a fabulous job picking our winners and finalists — and with so many good entries, that was hard!

Secondly, another special thanks to our sponsors:
Some Art Fabric, Crafting with Cat Hair, Near and Far Comic, and The Booty Bag ™. These are the cool people who donated prizes for you guys to win!* Go visit them and tell ’em thanks!

So, first place goes to Samwise’s Melting Heart

As a judge said “I love not only the creative use of wire, but also how elegantly this piece represents the idea of a heart coming apart.” If you have a website, I’d love to link to it.

Second place goes to Crafting With Cat Hair‘s Kiss Me Deadly Poison Lipstick

“Not only does it make really precision use of craft techniques, it’s so subtly funny.”

Winners, Please email me at holiday -[at]- dabbled.org. And go look at our prizes!

And soooo close — some of these were just a point away! Our Honorable Mentions, in no particular order:

a: Pompom Serial Killers
b: Skeleton Bleeding Heart
c: I heart Maggots!
d: Lili Doll

And you can see all the finalists in the Poll for the People’s Choice Award. Do you know better than our judges? Go vote for YOUR favorite(s).

Note, these are the finalists, but do NOT include the judges’ First Place pick. Also, we judged Art/Illustration separately, so those are not included in the finalists.
You may vote for up to 3 finalists for the peoples choice winner!

(Links are listed below the poll)

http://kleiosbelly.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/the-anti-valentine/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackstarjewelry/3235830543/
http://realitysuckspeanutbutter.blogspot.com/2009/02/broken-heart.html
http://wildwoodsartstudio.blogspot.com/2009/02/anti-valentines-day-contest-v-20.html
http://picasaweb.google.com/alisonamaurer
http://pterodactylpants.com/?p=604
http://paperclipsandplaypens.com/?p=114
http://www.flickr.com/photos/craftycarolinagirl/3245126161/
http://peachstreet.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-anti-valentines-day-contest-entry.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepperstitches/3273423235/in/photostream/

First off, a reminder that THIS IS IT, the last day to get in your entries for the Anti-Valentines Day contest. Go check out the Dabbled flickr pool for a quick look at some of the entries. Need motivation? Go check out the prizes from our lovely sponsors! You have until Midnight tonight, Eastern US Time.

*The lovely and ingenious Diane, of Craftypod (We interviewed Diane a while back)

*The clever and delightful Alice, of Futuregirl (She has the best sea creatures!)

*And the charming and talented Rachel, of Average Jane Crafter (and Craft contributing writer)

If you’re not familiar with these talented ladies, go check them out. They’ve all been huge inspirations to me over the past few years!

And also don’t forget to ENTER THE CONTEST and CHECK OUT THE PRIZES!