And Softly Fell The Silent Snow

Annette Lanker is another talented artist that designs for Pennywise Arts. I’ve had the opportunity to create side by side with Annette on play days and it’s amazing to watch her process. Fearless, free-spirited and unconcerned about the outcome, Annette creates from a deep place of self acceptance and love of all things paper.

In the first card shown Annette used green paper to make the base and she covered the front of the card with two different decorative papers. The creative fold that really makes this card unique is actually a pleat made of two folds. The first diagonal fold takes the cover backwards and the second fold brings it forward again. To keep it in place Annette punched two holes through all of the cover layers and knotted red and kraft colored hemp fibers together on the front.

Stamped with brown ink in the bottom right corner is a reindeer that has an oval of O’So Sticky Tape over the top of it. The card has been finished with clear micro beads on the tape. The image is hard to see in the photo due to the reflective nature of the clear beads when being photographed.

Last week I went shopping at a large department store and of course the glittery and festive holiday displays caught my eye. I couldn’t help but be drawn in to see what what fun and new things I might find down THOSE aisles. I’ll admit I was even wondering what ideas and inspiration I could “borrow” for my own holiday creations. This year blue and green seem to be the new Christmas colors and Annette’s second card fits right in with the trend.

This top fold card was cut 11” tall by 4.25” wide and folded down. Snowflakes were stamped randomly with VersaMark ink over the blue paper. Basic Grey patterned paper was added to one side with the verse stamped in green. The scallop oval was punched from coordinating patterned paper and Annette created the delicate lacy look by using her 1/8” hole punch inside of each scallop. Slits were then punched on each side of the scallop to feed the blue ribbon through. Annette wrapped the ribbon around to the inside of the card and hid the ends behind the scallop for a finished look.

A micro beaded snowflake was the final touch on this card. Annette punched a snowflake with her QuicKutz and O’So Sticky Paperback Tape. She peeled off one side of the tape liner to add the snowflake to the oval and then removed the top liner to cover the tape with blue translucent micro beads.

When I grow up, I want to be as fearless and free spirited in my artwork as my dear friend Annette is in hers.

Stamp Credits: DeNami, Serendipity Stamps

Wonder and Delight

PWA Designer Beki Ward loves to scrapbook all the special moments in her life – especially if the grandkids are involved!  Here she shares a fun holiday layout using Pennywise Arts  micro beads and O’So Sticky Tape™ as a simple striped accent.  (Click on photos to enlarge)

There really is nothing quite like having little ones around for the holidays.   The anticipation of Santa, the excitement of baking, shopping, wrapping gifts, dreaming, hoping….

As a grown up I love the opportunity to relive it all through the eyes of my nieces and nephews.  In the process I always feel the magic and rediscover the child within myself. 

Shake It Up For Christmas!

PWA Designer, Dee Moran created this fun Christmas card with lots of layers and embellishments!

The card base is red and the next layer up is from the Basic Gray Dasher line of papers. The micro beaded red handmade paper corners raise it up off the card creating depth. (Click photo for a closer look!)

More paper layers keep this card exciting and showcase the embossed snow globe stamp from All Night Media. Dee was so clever to turn this globe into an interactive shaker card embellishment! She carefully cut out the circle inside the globe, added a piece of clear acetate over the opening and then built a foam tape frame all the way around. (It’s very important that the tape fits snug and tight or the micro beads will sneak out!) Santa and Rudolf are embossed on a piece of red paper cut to fit over the back of the shaker piece. So nicely executed Dee!

Stamp Credits: All Night Media

Bead-iful Holiday Duo

Here are two bead-iful holiday designs by Michele Aiello-Zendejas.  Michele has a knack for creating cards with interest and texture and she also knows how to finish big with unique embellishment items.

 

Several layers of coordinating paper were edged with gold Krylon pen to get this card off to an elegant start.  Michele created the ornaments with mirror board and a hand held punch.  O’So Sticky Tape served two purposes for this design:  The side showing through the ornament holds the micro beads in place and the back side of the O’So adheres the ornament to the card.  Fishtail earring findings are added with glue and make the perfect ornament hook. Look closely at the background stamp… only Michele could stamp bubbles on a Christmas card and pull it off with finesse!  So creative she is!

There is nothing traditional about Michele’s 3-d tree on this card:

She used a marble texture stamp with clear embossing ink to get the veined pattern on the hand cut Christmas tree.  Then she dipped the tree into Utee (ultra thick embossing enamel) and melted it with a heat tool.  While the Utee was hot and melty Michele sprinkled a mixture of multi colored micro beads over the top.  When cool she was able to wrap gold wire around the tree and top it with a gold star that had also been embellished with micro beads.  The trunk?  It was made from a Popsicle stick! 

Bravo Michele, Bravo!

Stamp Credits: Hero Arts, Stampendous

Something Marvelous

I think this pretty beaded flower card by my friend Evelyn Spikes is pretty marvelous!  The image and verse just pop off the card at me, and if you click the photo you’ll see what a subtle glimmer our Ultra Fine Micro Beads give to the flower. 

Evelyn stamped and colored the image with markers, then she stamped just the blossom part of the flower on O’So Sticky Paperback Tape so she could cut it out to fit exactly over the image.  She peeled off the back liner and applied the cut tape to the colored blossom just like a sticker.  She then removed the top liner and dipped the exposed tape in ultrafine beads for the finish.  And what a finish it is!  Thanks for sharing Evelyn!!

True Confessions

 

 

Okay, now that this blog is rolling merrily along I think it’s true confession time.

Friends have suggested, encouraged, recommended and strongly encouraged me to start blogging for years.  And I resisted,… obviously for a long time. 

I’ve always wanted Pennywise Arts to be about community.  My vision is for PWA to be a hub where creative women find connection to other creative women and then together they create a network of support, inspiration and friendship.  I think we’ve done that.  Very well in fact. 

Over the years this  amazing group of caring women have supported one another through good times and tragic times, celebrations and heartbreaks, births, deaths, and simple acts of kindness.  I’ve watched shy women come out of their shells and wounded women learn to trust other women again.  I’ve even witnessed women who have never travelled alone in their lives get in a car or on a plane and journey great distance to meet face to face with friends they have only ever known online.  So you see, this community touches my soul on a very deep level. 

And  that is why I’ve resisted blogging.

I never want the focus to be on me.  It’s not about me.  It’s not “my” group.  It’s not the “Suzanne Show”.  I’ve spent a lot of time fretting about how to make this clear to the group. I’ve tried stepping back out of the limelight hoping others would step in.  I’ve tried encouraging, instigating and even begging others to show up and be a part.  But those things don’t seem to work. 

And then my grandma came to visit last week. 

Evelyn Brady is just two months shy of being 93 years old.  She is the mother of my father who passed away 9 years ago.  My grandma is an angel, a true and proper lady and I adore her so much.  She is sharp, witty, engaging and fun.  While her body is slow to get her from place to place, she is always willing to go anywhere, anytime especially if there will be a party when she gets there.  I am quite certain that I get my love of people and parties from her.  Ü

Grandma often shares her stories with me, of the people she knows and the lives they have lived.  She belongs to a “Birthday Club” which is a group of neighborhood women that get together for lunch once a month to celebrate the birthdays of other women in their group.  The most amazing thing about her Birthday Club?  They have been doing this without fail since the 1950’s. 

Grandma tells me stories about how the club supported her with love, meals and friendship when my grandpa was hurt in an accident and couldn’t work for a year.  She has shared about how the group cried together when one of the women lost her home. They have been together through over 50 years of births, job promotions, layoffs, divorces and deaths.  And as the time passes by and as the women grow older the group gets smaller and smaller.  Yet they have stayed together and I believe they will until the days of the Birthday Club end only because all of it’s “sisters” have passed away and all that remains are the remnants of stories left behind for their loved ones to tell.

Through her sharing it became clear to me that every successful group, every lasting close knit community has one person somehow silently designated as the  orchestrator, date setter, space creator, time maker and leader.  And that’s when my role in the PWA community crystallized in my mind.  Group activity can’t be corralled or coerced.  It’s something that will ebb and flow and thrive so long as someone is there taking the lead.  As long as someone is orchestrating opportunities, creating the space and setting aside the time the group will flourish and the friendships will bloom. 

I am just a hub of a wheel so big that it’s spokes reach across the globe to countries and friends all over the world.  Just call me the orchestrator.

Hugs,

Suzanne

Happy Birthday Cupcake!

Going through all the amazing card samples that I’ve collected I ran across two more of Julie Imsland’s fantastic designs to share with you. These two cupcake cards look yummy enough to eat, don’t they?

Here’s some “up close” action on the featured sweet treats!

	This one got a little tricky read below how she did it!
This one was a simple matter of masking the icing with O’So Sticky Tape.

The techniques that Julie used to bead the frosting of these using two cards was super simple and use very little O’So Sticky Tape.

On both designs this basic method was used:

1. Just stamp onto white scrap paper with the stamp you wish to use and make a template by cutting out frosting only of cupcake.

2. Trace frosting template onto O’So Sticky Tape sheet and cut out.

3. Peel off one liner of the O’So Sticky Tape and adhere to pre colored cupcake frosting image. Burnish well.

4. Peel off remaining tape liner. Pour micro bead mixture on to the exposed tape. Press the beads firmly onto tape with fingers or small brayer.

To complete the pink cupcake Julie did a little sidestep by putting a circle of O’So Sticky Tape over her colored image and THEN she placed a mask over the icing made of tape liner. This kept the frosting from getting beaded over when she smooshed the whole thing into the clear micro beads. Once that was done, Julie removed the mask and beaded the frosting with a multi colored mixture of micro beads.

P.S. Please let Julie know what you think of her designs by leaving comments below!

Stamp Credits: Lockhart Stamp Co., Impress, Memory Box, Sweet Impressions