Still Ticking

One of the fat book page swaps we did on the PWA Yahoo Group last year was a “Time” theme.   This stunning page by Eunice Creswell is totally “Tim” (Tim Holtz inspired).

The list of supplies she used is just as detailed as her art.  She used the Cuttlebug folder “Clockworks” on textured cardstock for her background and distressed it with several Distress Ink colors.  The letter “T” is cut from corrugated cardboard and some of the outer layer has been stripped.  The finishing touches on the “T” are Distress inks and Distress Stickles.  The rest of the letters are die cut chipboard distressed and stamped with various textures.  The dot of the “i” is a sunflower with a mixture of micro beads in the middle.  (All translucent: brown, orange, yellow, red, lettuce and yellow with black and gold opaque's.)

The small distressed tags contain her credits pinned onto the page with assorted fibers and charms completing her page. 

Our Yahoo Group has changed over the years from a daily average of 200+ messages (whew!) to an average of less than 20 a week.  What I find really cool though, is that our activity level in swaps hasn’t changed all that much – which means we are spending less time talking about creating but not less time doing the creating! Yay us!

If you like to swap quality art, then our Yahoo Group might be the place for you, come check us out!

Hugs!  Suzanne

Chocolate Sings

Our Cuttlebug Queen is at it again!  PWA designer Julie Imsland uses her Cuttlebug more than anyone I know and it’s often for some big beadie ideas!  This time she has taken the “Beaded Cuttlebug”  Embossing Technique to new sighs.

Here are the basic supplies that Julie used this time:

(Not shown:  O’So Sticky Powder)

To create your own singing chocolate ATC just tear a piece of background paper vertically to cover half of the ATC.  Follow the directions on the PWA website for doing the Beaded Cuttlebug Embossing Technique using Encore Ultimate Metallic Gold Ink by Tsukineko, Allegro Cuttlebug Embossing Folder by Provo Craft and  Pennywise Arts Clear Ultra Fine Micro Beads.

Stamp Credits:

Candy/Cupcake Stamp by Hero Arts

Caption Stamp by Hampton Art Stamps

Never Too Late For Love

Valentine’s Day may have come and gone but it’s never too late to show some love to a friend.  PWA Designer Michelle McCarthy created an atc with so much detail and interest I had to ask her to share the “how to” and she quickly fired back an entire tutorial with pictures and everything!  Woweee!  Be sure to read all the way to the end because Michelle shows how to create that cool background!

Supplies:

CS for top
CS for background
Any punch
Any colored Micro beads
O'so Sticky Tape or sheet
scissors

Directions:

1.  Using any punch of choice, punch out from your chosen top CS.  Make sure you leave space around edges to trim later.

2.  Turning punch negative upside down, cover opening with piece of O'so tape, leaving front side with exposed tape.

3.  Now dip and cover in chosen micro beads

4.  from back, unpeel O’so tape and attach second or background piece (For instance, I wanted the heart to be solid red, so I added the red CS to "fill in" anything the micro beads may have missed.)
 

5.  Now using your scissors, trim away around your punch, thus creating a frame around your micro beads shape.  And there you go, O'So simple!

 

Bonus!  Technique for background of ATC:
 

1.  It really has to be seen in person for you to totally get the effect.  All you do is add any shape or piece (I used the punch out from the heart I used to create the upper technique).

2.  Apply to a background piece with a little glue to keep it down.

3.  Run the whole piece through the die cutter with a chosen Embossing Folder.  Now sit back and admire the technique!  It's embedded into the larger piece of CS and is very cool!

             

Thanks so much Michelle!  I LOVE this card!!

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.

Snow Angel

One of two snowmen in the Pennywise Arts fat book swap came from PWA designer Julie Imsland.  Julie was super creative in making her snowman into an angel and here’s how she did it…  The snowman body is covered in three white felt circles which have been aptly adorned with the basic snowman outfit of eyes, nose, scarf and heart.  (Everyone knows that snowmen have hearts!)  To keep her man’s head warm Julie created a hat from an old tube sock (clean of course!)  The wings were made from scalloped chipboard that she found at Michael’s last summer.  She cut each board in half to get the shape shown.  Painted white and run through her Cuttlebug, Julie added embossed snowflake texture to the background of the wings before rubber stamping snowflakes over the top with gold ink and adding them to the back of the snowman to create her warm hearted snow angel.