Dinoland - Tim Holtz Sizzix Chapter 1 2019

I hope you are ready for some Dinoland fun!  While I was using the Prehistoric dies from Tim Holtz and Sizzix to make some cards and things for kiddos, I kept thinking about Claude Bell's Dinosaurs roadside attraction out on the 10 fwy on the way to Palm Springs. That inspired this retro gameboard that I imagined a child begging their parents to buy them from the giftshop when they stopped to see this iconic California roadside attraction.

Photo Credit: http://boiteaoutils.blogspot.com

If you have ever driven out to Palm Springs from the LA area, you can't help but notice some giant dinosaurs along the the 10 Freeway. They were made by Claude Bell, an artist and sculptor who had worked for Knott's Berry Farm Amusement Park.  He owned a restaurant called the Wheel Inn that was along the 10 freeway, so he built the dinosaurs to get people passing by to stop and then hopefully they would grab a meal in his restaurant.

Photo Credit: http://www.air-and-space.com

He worked on the dinos for years. If you are from my generation, you may recognize them from the 1980's movie "Pee Wee's Big Adventure." The dinosaurs were eventually sold and are now known as the Cabazon Dinosaurs, but they are still there and you can visit them! I have!

Now that you know the inspiration, let's get back to the project and we'll start with making the dinos. These are thinlit dies and they can't cut really thick items, so to make them sturdy and to stand up, I cut two dinosaurs and their layered parts from Distress Mixed Media Heavystock that I had colored with Distress Inks and Oxides. You need to cut them once with the color facing the die and once with the color facing away from the die so the dinosaurs have color and layers on both sides. Then I cut several of just the dinosaur bodies from a thick 130 lb Heavyweight Black Cardstock. When you have all the pieces cut, layer all of these pieces together.

To get the dinos to stand up, I cut some of the tree bases from the Village Landscape die from the same amount of colored MM Heavystock and the black heavystock.

I layered them and then cut a slit in the dino feet that was the same shape as the one on the tree base.

I fit them together and glued them in place on the dino legs. Do not glue any of the trees or dinosaurs onto the piece. This was supposed to be something you would buy for your child from a quirky roadside attraction to remember it and to play with.  So the dinosaurs and trees need to be able to move around and attack each other or eat the trees or get stuck in the tar. Rawwr!

 

This Splat is a crazy, fun die that can be so many things! Spilled coffee, spilled paint or ink, part of a map, just a fun blob of color, an island, a lake... you get the idea. I saw it as a watering hole and a tar pit for the dinosaurs.

I cut the pieces out of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock and then colored the different pieces in blues and greys. Then I placed them inside of each other and sprayed each piece with Distress Resist Spray for some shine.  This also kind of glued them together. When I adhered them I made sure to let the water and the tar "spill" over the sides of the gameboard.

This brings me to the sides of the Vignette Tray. I painted the top of the tray with Peeled Paint, and Vintage Photo to look like grass with some dirt showing through. Then I painted the edges of the tray with Rusty Hinge Distress Paint.

To age the edges I covered them with Walnut Stain Distress Paint and then wiped it off leaving it in the crevasses. 

 

Next I took some Distress Woodgrain Cardstock and stained it brown with various Distress Stains. I used the 8.5x10 woodgrain. 

Then I cut the piece into strips wide enough to fit around the edge of the tray. To add interest I used one of the Retro Repeat dies and instead of cutting it vertically as you would for a card, I cut it horizontally. These photos were taken to show the technique and are not the pieces I used on my sample.

 Once you cut the first run, you need to carefully lay die over previously cut parts and continue the pattern.You can see how I did this below.

 You need to really adhere the paper and the die very well to do this so it doesn't shift.

Once that was cut, I added the stained strips of Retro Repeat woodgrain to the sides of the tray with Distress Collage Medium Matte. Some of the stain comes off because Distress reacts with water and so it also reacts with the moisture in the Collage Medium. That is fine because it ages the painted portions that show through the cutouts.

The last thing I did was to make the sign to get people to visit my roadside attraction. I wanted people to see it and stop! For this I used the Atomic Bigz die.

Before I tell you what I did, look at the point on that shape. This is a steel rule die! Isn't that amazing?

I cut two of the pointed shapes and one of the rounded rectangles from black chipboard. Then I cut the same from some Distress Mixed Media Heavystock. I colored the paper with Distress Inks and Oxides and then adhered them to the chipboard and then to each other. I cut two 1/2" strips of the black chipboard as the posts. To give the sign a retro feel, I angled the posts. I had to use a box cutter to make a slit along the back of the top of the Vignette Box for the posts to slide down into so the sign would stand up and stay put.

The name DINOLAND was cut from the Cutout Uppercase Bigz alpha.

Lastly the trees were from two different dies from the Village series. They are all steel rule, so you just need to cut two pieces of DMM Heavystock for each tree you make, and one from black chipboard. Color the DMM Heavystock and adhere it to the chipboard shapes, then add the feet.

You can make as many dinos and trees as you want as well as maybe even some dinos that you cut off their feet so they look like they are swimming or sinking in the tar.
This gameboard cleans up easily by taking the moveable parts off and pulling the sign out the slots, you can put them in a bag and store it in the tray that will fit easily in a drawer.

I hope you have a RAWWWRING good time with this project!
Tami

If you would like to see Tim discuss many of the dies used on this project, watch this video from Sizzix:

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