This seems like a fun software and is not your traditional photo collage software.  As the title says, it is a photo mosaic software for crafting your own photo mosaics, just like you’ve seen in stores.  The possibilities are nearly endless. From photo wallpaper to poster-size montages and photo mosaics, Artensoft Photo Mosaic Wizard can do it.

Here’s what the company says about their software:
“Artensoft Photo Mosaic Wizard builds perfect photo mosaics out of your own images in just seconds. Have great fun with friends and family, produce perfect photo gifts, and make unique posters in five easy steps! Artensoft Photo Mosaic Wizard is great for designing and printing photo wallpaper, producing exclusive collages, and building photo montages that look great from afar and perfect from up close. ”

As I understand it, you need at least 150 photos to create the mosaic, so if you don’t have a lot of storage and pictures, this program may not be the best match for you.  I heard they have a photo package that is free as well, which contains over 4000 photos.  Click the link below to get more information on the software and decide if it is right for you.  

It would be fun to use the images in scrapbooking, handmade greeting cards, other types of paper crafts and for photo gifts.  There are lots of crafting possibilities!

Remember, it’s only available today, so click here to get it.

Happy Crafting,

AJ

Personalized Gift for Him or Her with a Woodburned Box

My simple explanation of woodburning is that you are basically drawing on wood with a hot pen.  You will need to purchase a woodburning tool for this craft project.  My woodburning tool is made by Walnut Hollow, and I am quite satisfied with it.  It came with different writing “points” (or tips, as I call them), as well as three ”points” that can be used to simply stamp the wood with the design of that particular tip.   It is important to note that the woodburning tool get VERY hot – 950 Farenheit/510 Celsius.  So if you were planning on doing this craft with kids, they are going to need to be old enough to handle the tool.  I also suggest you keep a glass of ice water next to your work surface (whether you are a kid or not), in case you accidentally burn yourself.

The only other two items you need for this craft project are (1) the wood item you’d like to woodburn (like a wooden box, see picture) and (2) a template of the design you want to burn into the wood.  That is what I love about woodburning; I can personalize the design to match the person receiving the gift.  The possibilities are endless. 

You can use stencils or other templates to trace the design onto the surface of the wood.  Once that is done, you simply trace over design with the woodburning tool.  It’s that simple.  If you are good at drawing, you can try woodburning a freehand design.  For most of us though, tracing over a template is the way to ensure the design turns out how we want it to look.

If you want to learn more techniques and tips, there are a number of good woodburning/pyrography books out there.  My number one tip is this: get a scrap piece of wood and practice using your woodburning tool to get the feel for it.  By doing this, you will really get a feel for how the tool moves across the wood, which is really helpful when you are doing your project.

Happy Crafting, 

AJ