French Fleur

I had such a fun day at Art ‘n Soul in Olympia, Washington yesterday!  Meeting so many “beadie buddies” and hearing your feedback about the blog and class lineup really made my day!  The Pennywise make ‘n take was this pretty French fleur die cut artist trading card. I prepared for 50 makers and came home with 8 extra makings, that’s sure a lot of fun folks in one small place at the same time! 

I scheduled 4 classes there for September!  Hooray!  The dates to save are September 9th and 23rd! More details coming soon! 

Here’s how we did the above atc:

The short explanation:

Silver base, dark blue layer stamped with Versamark and French script from Stamper’s Anonymous, silver fleur frame and a medallion made with a blue cardstock circle covered in O’So with the silver fleur on top and the micro bead mixture filling in around it.

The longer more detailed and visually pleasing explanation:

The silver cardboard foil is recycled material - would you believe a lid from a takeout container?!  I cut it using the Spellbinders Fleur de lis accents die set (S5-042) and my Vagabond electric die cutter. 

One interesting tidbit I learned when die cutting the detailed frame was shimming it with a piece of bubble wrap behind the paper (not behind the cutting plate).  It gives it a little more koosh I guess and helps the die get all the way through the thicker metallic material. The first time through some of the bubbles will pop which is a fun added bonus!

To conserve the pretty silver paper I put the fleur die in the middle of the frame and cut it at the same time.  Since this gets covered up by the medallion it didn’t matter if it was centered or straight.

The circles were all cut with my Cricut - including the O'So Sticky Tape circles!  I love letting my machines do all the fussy stuff!  The Cricut will cut clean through paperbacked sticky tape.  I set the blade on depth 6 with high pressure.  Your machine may vary.

Note: Any red liner tape sheets can be converted to paper by saving the white liner from a used sheet and trading it out for the red.

To make the medallions I put a 1.5” circle of  O’So Sticky Tape over a 1.5” blue cardstock circle.  I removed the top liner from the tape and placed the silver fleur die cut in the middle. 

Then the medallion was pressed into a mixture of colored opaque micro beads. (Royal blue, silver, teal and purple).

The pictures are dark. I was too lazy to put my shoes on and go outside like I usually do for the best lighting.

Here is another one of my other experiments using all of the same materials:

For the above medallion I cut the fleur first.  Then I used a circle punch to cut it from the sheet.  A circle of O’So Sticky was placed behind the cutout and the micro beads fill it in.  If you work with Spellbinders at all you know that layers, layers, layers make the design.  Foam tape lifts the frame piece off of the background for more dimension.

If you’ve read this far you are a true blue Pennywise fan and to reward your loyalty I will send the above atc to the first 8 people to leave a comment on the blog!   Leave a sweet note in the comments section and then click the “contact me” button at the top of the blog page and email your mailing address to me PRIVATELY!  You’ll know if you are in the first 8 just by counting the comments.

Hugs, Suzanne

One Buck ATC

After creating all of the kits for the Father’s Day room cards I had a bunch of little parts and pieces left over.  I’ll be honest,  usually I just toss little bits and scraps right into the trash.  However, I had company over.  Someone that is known for rescuing my scraps so I decided instead to make something.

Keeping with the Father’s Day theme I made artist trading cards to swap in the monthly Pennywise Arts community 1-4-1 atc swap.

The deer trophy was created with part of  the “Deer Trio” die from Memory Box.  The head was “mounted” with foam tape on a oval brown background that was covered in O’So Sticky Tape.  The oval was then beaded with brown translucent micro beads and layered on what I thought was the perfect stamp – part of a one dollar bill.

When I showed it to one of my son’s friends he said, “If you made 99 more you’d have a hundred bucks.”  We all laughed out loud!  I thought that might make a cute saying to add to the back for a Father’s Day token.

And if you happen to be swapping on the Pennywise Arts community 1-4-1 atc swap this month you will be getting one of these bucks in the mail soon!

Hugs, Suzanne

Holiday Lights Chunky ATC

Vicki Chow also participated in the Gingersnap Creations “holiday lights” challenge.  Her chunky ATC is so fun!

The lights were die cut with O’So Sticky Tape on the colored papers.  All Vicki had to do next was peel the liner and dip into clear micro beads.

 

 

 

 

The star on top has a border of mixed micro beads and the back side of Vicki’s ATC has a big beaded poinsetta. 

Vicki said that to start she just laid a bunch of Christmas stuff on her craft table and went to town.  The chunky atc block came from Pennywise Arts.  She wrapped it with fabric and then let her creative muse take it from there.

Vicki is a super talented lady, I hope she’ll share more of her artwork again soon!  Ü

Hugs, Suzanne