My Favorite Color

The Wild Joys Of Living

Evelyn Spikes created this elegant book from simple, brown, paper lunch bags.  With her easy to follow photo tutorial, you can make one too!

Gather these supplies:

2 paper lunch bags

2 each of 4 coordinating double-sided papers 5 5/16” square

Extra pieces of the ‘back’ of patterned papers…if solid colors.

Coordinating solid colored cardstock for some matting

Image and sentiment stamps (a theme is always nice!)

Adhesive of choice

O’So Sticky in sheets

Ultrafine clear micro beads

Hole punch…one that will go through several sheets of paper. (I

used the old-fashioned one that requires a hammer!)

Cord to tie pages together

Ribbon or fiber for looks

Gather up your supplies!

  How To Do It

1.  Fold bags in half and insert one inside the other with thickest part on opposite ends.

2.  Adhere cover pieces to front and back of outside bag.

3.  Working with the pages in book form, adhere patterned papers to cover the surfaces. (Where the bag ‘pleats,’ you can decide whether or not to glue those pieces together, as well.)

4.  Add adhesive at tops and bottoms where needed.

5.  Measure and punch 3 holes through the ‘spine’ of the book.

6.  Tie tightly with cord to hold the book together.

7.  Stamp images and sentiments according to your choices.

8.  Cut and apply O’So to stamped images and/or sentiments; cover in ultrafine beads

9.  Adhere beaded images and sentiments to pages as desired.

10. Cut ribbon or fiber to tie into the back of the book.

 

Inside Views Of The Book

   

Stamp credits in order of use: Wordsworth, Impression Obsession, Paperbag Studios, Hero Arts, Penny Black, Eclectic Omnibus, Inky Antics, Paperbag Studios

More Than A Tag

 

Our featured designer for April is Evelyn Spikes Evelyn is “a happily retired high school English teacher in NE Oregon.”  She says, “I am fortunate to be able to spend as much time as I want crafting with paper and taking photographs. Married for more than 30 years, my husband and I have two grown sons....one in western Oregon and one in New York.”

We are excited to share some of the art that Evelyn has created in her spare time for the Pennywise Arts Design Team!  This is her first project, “More Than a Tag”. In this post Evelyn shows and tells us how she made this unique tag design, if you want to follow along just gather up these supplies:

*  Medium-sized tag (2 5/8 x 5 ¼”) and  an additional tag for cutting (manila file folder or cardstock can be used)

*  Collage stamp with distinct geometric images

*  Dye ink color of choice

*  Paperback O’So Sticky

*  Foam squares

*  Clear ultrafine micro beads

*  Choice of coordinating embellishments, including ribbon

How To Do This Technique

Step 1. Use dye ink to stamp tag with collage stamp.

Step 2. Stamp a second time on extra tag.

Step 3. Cut out desired geometric images in collage.

Step 4. Using cut-out images, trace shapes on paperback O’So, cut out and apply to images.

Step 5. Bead images with clear beads. Set aside.

Step 6. Apply ink to edges of stamped tag.

Step 7. Using foam squares, apply beaded collage shapes to matching locations on tag.

8. Apply embellishments and coordinating ribbon.

 

Stamp Credit: Inkadinkado

Evelyn has her own art blog where she shares her creations.  It’s updated regularly and is a great source of inspiration.   Be sure to check it out!

Blog Hop Prize Winner!!

Thanks to all of the hoppers who joined us on the Pennywise Arts Beadie Buddy Blog Hop trail!!  It was a total blast and we’ll have to do it again!

The winner of the Pennywise Arts Blog Hop prize is……….

Brooke Bassett!  Congratulations Brooke!  You have won a $50 gift certificate from Pennywise Arts!!  Have fun shopping!

Hugs, Suzanne

The Hop’s End

It’s Sunday, March 28, 2010 and tonight at midnight our first ever Beadie Buddy Blog Hop will officially come to an end and our grand prize will be awarded.   I must admit that the whole event really took me by surprise.  Oh, I knew that the hop was happening but what I didn’t know was what to expect or how it would feel or what response we would get.  That has been the surprising part of it for me. 

I was awed by the amazing projects shared by each designer that participated.  I am energized by the excitement generated around this weekend event.  I was touched by the words that  each blogger wrote and touched again by the comments left by the hoppers.  And I was totally inspired by the shared creativity and thrilled to see so many people connecting over the weekend. 

If you’ve been around the hop circle once, don’t forget to hop again to Stamper’s Quest, where Bea Rosenleaf has posted a second dose of NEW projects for our event with a wonderful surprise ending!

http://stampersquest.com

Even though this official hop is ending, the true beauty of it all is that the kindness and friendships we share will endure.   We have living proof of it on our Pennywise Arts Yahoo Community and we welcome you to join us!

The other thing that endures are the posts and projects that were created for this hop.  They will live on in blogland for as long as the blogs exist which means if you saw something this weekend that you really liked or would like to see again, just make note of the blog and revisit it any time!  (or come back here to the blog roll and find it that way).   And if you met a blogger this weekend that really inspired you, fan them, follow them and bookmark them to return for more!   I know I did - and I will!

If you are just getting started on the hop, you can catch the whole lineup in the post below this one.  There is definitely still time to take it all in and win a prize!

Be sure to visit the Pennywise Arts blog often, because we feature all of our newest design team projects here and try to update several times a week to keep your creative juices flowing!

Our Pennywise Arts featured designer coming up in the month of April is Evelyn Spikes.   Evelyn is a very talented artist and dear friend.  I know you will enjoy the projects she has created to share with you here next month!

This is one of my favorite cards, made by Evelyn:

The technique used for this card element is simple.  A piece of clear acetate is stamped in black Staz On with the flourish design and a piece of O’So Sticky Tape is adhered on the back of the acetate.  Expose the adhesive on the back and sprinkle micro beads around the edges (here Evelyn used purple opaque) and then fill in the rest of the exposed tape with opal flakes (we call it Fru Fru) and clear micro beads for a very dramatic effect.  The piece is then layered onto colored cardstock to complete the design.

Click on photo for a larger view.   The acetate, beads and flakes are very reflective and difficult to photograph!

Stamp Credits:  Stampers Anonymous

Thanks for joining us this weekend!  I hope you had as much fun taking it all in as I did! 

Hugs, Suzanne

P.S.  As soon as we can verify the winner of the $50 Pennywise Arts gift certificate, we will make the announcement here!

 

More words……..

Hum,….. The original post for the blog hop that I put up on Friday has evaporated!  It looks like this one over wrote it some how.  Ooops!  I’m not an expert at these things yet, sorry!

Here is the blog roll again – in case you still need it!

Suzanne

Bea

Rita Ann

Jen

Linda

Marianne

Jennifer W

Kathi

Jennifer T

Bea (yes, back to see Bea again)

Stephanie

Michele

Beki

Bridget

Lisa

Evelyn

Suzanne (yes, you will start and end with Suzanne)

Springtime In Paris

Speaking of Spring…  here is an amazing micro beaded beret done by a very special PWA friend and artist, Brooke Swinney.   It’s titled “Springtime in Paris”. 

Several years ago Brooke grabbed a hold of our O’So Sticky Tape and micro beads and she took them to a whole new level that we like to call “Bead Extreme”!  See for yourself just how extreme she went  in these photos of Brooke’s beret!

This is the top view:

Brooke’s designs include teeny tiny details, like this little beaded blue bird:

Here’s a butterfly created with O’So Sticky Tape, micro beads and wire:

Paris just wouldn’t be complete without a bereted poodle:

Here we have a swan sailing on the Siene: 

I just love this cute little ladybug:

Isn’t the detail simply stunning?

Brooke, you are an inspiration my friend! 

Hugs, Suzanne

P.S.  Someone asked a question about how many beads Brooke used to create this beret and I honestly cannot answer that question, sorry!  I sent Brooke a flat rate box full of beads because she was also doing some boxes for us – I’ll be sharing photos of those soon so be sure to check back for more amazing and EXTREME micro beading!

Burnished Sunflowers

Years ago, when we were doing weekly classes on our Pennywise Arts Yahoo group, we had a great project taught by Katrina Merryman.  It’s been one of my favorites to this day.  Kat showed us how to do a technique called “burnishing”.  I still remember the fun chant she used during that class….. “Don’t dab, don’t rub ya gotta scrub!”

Here’s a photo of Kat scrubbing for us:

I completely fell in love with these beautiful richly colored sunflowers and of course I had to buy the stamps too!  About once a year I get them all out again, and burnish sunflowers on anything I can get my hands on.  It’s a technique that I keep going back to because I never tire of the fun results!

 

If you haven’t seen the tutorial on how to make these cute post it note purses, we have it on our website HERE!!  Kat’s tutorial on burnishing is also there!

(And I am sure that if you think out of the box better than I do, you’ll find lots of things to burnish in addition to sunflowers!)

With spring in the air and the amazing sunshine we had in the Seattle area yesterday, I am feeling the urge to get out my sunflower stamps and burnish something!

Hugs, Suzanne

Stamp Credits:  Stampin Up!