A Spoonful of Bliss

I just love this pretty altered spoon by Marianne Colschen!  She took a plain spoon, added the word “Bliss” with a P-Touch label then inked it with alcohol inks. 

Then Marianne added colored micro beads around the edges with Sure Tac glue which dries clear.

I could see a whole spoon collection hanging on the wall with different colors and words on each!  Too much fun!

Thanks for sharing Marianne!

Hugs, Suzanne

Take Note

Marianne Colschen is the queen of dress it up!  When it comes to finding inexpensive items and transforming them into darling “handmade-ish” gifts Marianne certainly has a talent fine tuned to the art.

Here she has covered a small notebook with decorative paper and a micro beaded front plate.  The pens and pencils have all had small bit of matching paper and micro beads added to them to pull it all together into a very nice ensemble. 

Are you thinking “teacher gifts”?  How cute would that be??

Hugs, Suzanne

Distressed Tote

This darling little wooden tote made by Marianne Colschen sits on my desk.  It is the perfect size to hold business cards that I want to keep handy!

She painted the wood black and added stamped and distressed papers to all four sides.  Each side is them bordered in black micro beads with Sure Tac glue to make the beads really stand up!

Bead Masking Basics

Bead masking is a technique I haven’t played with in awhile!  Thanks to Marianne Colschen for reminding me about this fun beadie way to embellish!  Today’s post is a little notepad that Marianne shared with me. Years ago I did a photo tutorial of bead masking for one of our free online classes.  We have lots of those tutorials on our website now for your use.  I’ve edited the bead basics masking class to update the information for this blog post.

My photography has definitely evolved over the years and I apologize for the poor quality of photos below!

This project idea comes from the Design Originals book “Stuck On Beads” Volume 1 (which is no longer in print. )

Supplies:

O’So Sticky Tape sheet, micro beads in various colors, plastic tape liners from used up O’So and something to stick it all onto.

I have chosen to use a dark piece of cardstock to contrast and set off the bead design on my card.

Directions:

Step 1

Cut a piece of O’So Sticky Tape (from a sheet) into card front size 5.5” by 4.25”

Apply to the front of a card by using our tried and true “tape trick” which is done by only peeling back a corner of the liner.  This allows you to move and manipulate the tape sheet until it is perfectly in place on the card.  Press down on the exposed corner to anchor the tape sheet and then slowly pull away the liner smoothing the tape down onto the card as you go.

For this project, it really doesn’t matter which liner you remove first, the paper or the red plastic.  (Please note that our paper liners changed from a mustard color kraft paper to white paper in 2004).

When you are finished with Step 1 the front of your card should be completely covered with O’So Sticky Tape – like this:

I am showing you two examples – in the one on the left, I peeled the red liner first. In the one on the right I peeled the paper liner first – it doesn’t matter which way you do it.

Use whatever size tape liners you have on hand.  Strips can also be cut from sheet liners but you must take care to only put the release side down on your project if you use any paper liners.

In this tutorial I’ll be using 1/4” size but it really can be any size.  If all you have is 1” liners, and you want a 1/4” line, then just trim the liners.  If you have a lot of paper liners left over from other projects, you can cut those up to use.  In fact, you could even get fancy and cut the paper with decorative scissors if you want to.  Remember though that the red liners are made of plastic and have a “rubbery” texture to them – so I wouldn’t recommend that you try to cut them decorative scissors.

Step 2

Remove the liner from the tape you placed onto the card front, exposing the entire adhesive. Try not to touch it or bump it – cause you’ll get stuck.

Lay the liners onto the exposed adhesive in any pattern that suits you. It is okay to cross over with this method – it’ll come back up easily.

You’ll want to press the liners down firmly onto the adhesive – I used a pencil eraser to rub along each piece to make sure it was stuck down good! You may also want to trim any long ends – to keep them from catching and pulling off before you want them to.

This is what I did:

Step 3a

The adhesive from the sheet placed onto the cardstock in step 1 showing through the criscross design I made with the liners. This open area is what will be beaded first.

Press the card front into whatever color you would like.

Insert Picture

I was planning to insert a picture here – but when I peeled away the first liners I got so caught up in the moment that I totally forgot I was preparing for a class and I steamed onto the next step. Oops!

Step 3b 

Next, remove the top layer of liners from the card and press into another color of beads.

So far, I used the Light Blue Opaque in step 3a (the one I didn’t get a picture of) and then Royal Blue Opaque.

Step 3c

Remove the last layer of liners and press into a third color of beads.

I chose silver, and am now thinking that I would have liked it much better had I used the silver FIRST, so that all my “diamonds” were silver rather than light blue. That’s okay – I’ll try it again another time!

And don’t forget that you can SAVE THESE LINERS TOO! Yep – you can just keep on using them over and over and over – they don’t wear out!

Masking Notes

My husband, Brian really gets credit for coming up with the whole “Save Your Liner” campaign. This is what he created with recycled liners:

Our son Jordan created some very cool beaded pens using the masking technique:

He also made a neat vase with just ONE sheet of O’So Sticky Tape and LOTS of recycled liners:

Here’s a larger view of Marianne’s little notepad:

Clipboard Minis

A couple of years ago I saw these darling little mini clipboards for sale on eBay.  I purchased a dozen and then forgot I had them until Marianne’s design team package arrived! 

These tiny little guys only measure about 2” by 3” (that’s my best estimate without getting up from my seat to actually go measure).  The clips actually work and they have a cute little ball chain attached for adding to other things.  hmmmmm…… the wheels of my brain are turning,…. wouldn’t that be a fun thing to add to a fat book!?

Marianne sent some blank ones too – and I’ve added them to the treasure box of prizes that we’ll be awarding on our next blog hop!

Thank You For Being A Friend

Marianne Colschen has been my friend since the early, early days of Pennywise.  She is an amazing support to our creative endeavors and has worked many conventions by my side.  I appreciate her for her kindness, her friendship, her creativity and her fearless rattle snake skinnin’ heart!  (You’ll have to ask her about that story sometime….)   Ü

Thanks for being such a good friend Marianne, and for making this bubble beaded card for the blog too!  Ü

Marianne and me at ARTS 2004

Coffee and Hairspray

Amen Sister!

Tag created by Beki Ward

Bubbly

PWA designer Becky Ward has added a lot of great texture to this “bubbly” card!

Three layers of cardstock, a Cuttlebugged background, three dimensional popped up flower, ribbon and Pennywise Bubble Beads all come together to create an astonishing card that has to be fondled to be fully appreciated!  Ü

Hello Bubble Beads!

We are pleased to show off this bright and beautiful card by Marianne Colschen!  The pink, yellow and orange colors of this creation are hot, hot, hot!

 

Marianne used our new Iridescent Bubble Beads to accent the centers of her flowers and they add so much texture and shine!  Do you love it as much as I do?? 

Beautiful Girl

Marianne Colschen is a very busy beader!  I have a whole box of fun stuff from her to share with you this month!  Marianne created this layout of her gorgeous granddaughter to show how she uses our micro beads to add texture to her elements and make them sparkle too!

Die cut and micro beaded flowers along with a dragonfly are the perfect accent for a girly design!

Here is a close up of the dragonfly.  The body has been lifted up with pop dots.  I just love the “bling” of the gems!

 

Our O’So Sticky Paperback Tape works great with punches and die cutters.  Sizzix, Cuttlebugs, Cricuts and more – get them out and make something beadiful today!

 

Note:  Please take special care when using O’So Sticky Tape in your hand held punches to insure that your punch is clean before and after use with O’So Sticky.  Some sticky residue can build up and it’s important that you clean it off to keep your punch working smoothly.  Always use O’So Sticky Paperback in hand held punches, NEVER use the regular (red liner) tape.  The red is actually made of rubber and could damage your punch.

Bubble Beaded!

Marianne Colschen has been a busy, busy beader finding all kinds of fun and unique ways to incorporate our newest Iridescent Bubble Beads into her art! 

This darling notebook is small enough to tuck into a purse and stylish enough to make you want to actually write important things down in it!  Ü

BONUS!  This week one lucky customer will find this bead-i-ful beauty tucked into their order envelope!  All orders placed between Tuesday August 3rd and Saturday August 7th will be assigned a number in numerical order of receipt.  A predetermined “secret number” has already been assigned as the winner and if you happen to be “that” order number then you win!  We hope the winner will post a comment back to this page too – cause it’s always fun to hear from excited customers!

We look forward to sharing more of Marianne’s art with you all month long so keep coming back!

Hugs,

Suzanne

Oh –and go place your orders!  www.PennywiseArts.com !!

Springtime Flower Bouquet √

Is it Spring yet?  It’s hard to tell in the Snoqualmie Valley!  Yesterday it was hailing and today the sun is shining.  Last week was similarly crazy with sun and snow mixed!  My flowers are confused and so am I!

This flower bouquet isn’t confusing though and with it sitting on my counter it feels like Spring every time I glance that direction. Ü

Marianne Colschen created this simple to replicate card using her diamond Cuttlebug embossing plate on white cardstock.  She added Sure Tac Glue to half of the lines and then dipped the card into clear micro beads.  Any size bead will do!   The larger the micro bead the more reflection you’ll see from the light refracting through them, that’s what makes this card especially sparkly.

Prima flowers of all shapes, sizes and colors were layered together and added across the center diagonally with more Sure Tac Glue.  Micro beads in the middle finish the flowers quite nicely.  We love Sure Tac Glue because it flows nicely and dries crystal clear.  It’s perfect for micro bead accents anywhere you need them.

Pretty ribbon and a couple more layers of colored cardstock give the front of this card design a blooming finish.

But that’s not all folks!

Inside Marianne continued the same techniques and theme.  I love cards that are decorated on the inside.  I wish I took more time to follow it through that way!  Usually I’m lucky to have a card done just on the outside, forget the inside and the envelope!  Ü

Would you like to see this card with your hands?  Leave a comment below and you just might! 

Stamp Credit:  The Paper Company

Wise Owls Write It Down! √

As I get older, I find that I am a tad more forgetful that I was in my youth.  I am always writing myself notes so I won’t forget to go or do or be somewhere important.  Post it note pads are a staple of life at my house.  But they definitely don’t have to be boring!

PWA designer, Marianne Colschen created this cute post it note pad cover with layers of coordinating papers and ribbon.  The owl has been paper pieced from a die cut!  All the little white parts are the background paper showing through with micro beads inside the openings.

Here  is a link to the free svg file that Marianne used to create her owl!   Click here to get owl.

Are you feeling inspired?  If you make your own post it note cover and send a photo of it to me suzanne@pennywisearts.com  I will add it to this post and enter you into a drawing to win Marianne’s wise owl “PIN” pad!  (You have until March 31st to get it in!)

C’mon!  It won’t take long to do and you’ll be happy to have a cute PIN pad of your own on your counter for taking down notes!

Hugs,

Suzanne