Punch Art Fun 1 - Look in the Book - Page 22

Hello there!

Thought I'd share a Look in the Book today.

Page 22, in fact.

Got your book open?

If not that's okay, I've managed to find a few things from the page.

Bees and bears - lots of them.

Big and small, like, hello, bees in all sizes, just to prove it can be done. I like making lots of options for things, but sometimes I go a little too far. Three versions of bees - that's fine. Fourteen? Too many, but I'd do it if I could!

Anyway, onto the bees.

Small bees.

These are made with 3/16" Circles for the heads and small Music Notes for the bodies. You could use a tiny balloon if you have one too.

I love these little bees and use them all the time. So cute. Fiddly, but cute.

Note the wings are drawn on. It's always good to make your bee, put it on the card where you want it to go in the end and then draw the wings etc in that spot. Then you can stick the bee on with confidence. Done. The idea is that you cover the beginning of the lines you drew with the bee itself, so it looks neater.

PS. The black lines on the bee bodies are drawn on too. Could you imagine doing the technique below on the bees above. Can I hear a resounding no??

Bigger bees this time.

They have 1/2" Circle heads and medium-sized balloons (Sullivans green size) for the bodies.

The technique for the stripes is to punch a black balloon and cut it into strips for the black stripes. My strips are rounded, but you can do straight ones if they're easier. They just get stuck on. I've noticed one bee has two stripes, while the other has three. I'd do three on each, but the world won't come crashing down if you don't.

And again, could you imagine doing this technique on the tiny, tiny bees above? Ummm....no.

The bees above have balloons for the wings too. They look quite huge actually. I think smaller balloons would be the go in the future (Sullivans orange size).

Okay, HUGE bee this time. All you need is circles and ovals (and/or balloons) and you've got yourself a bee.

Above, the body is an oval. Looks just as good as the balloon. Once again, black oval cut into strips for the stripes. Say that a couple of times fast!

If you've got your book open you'll notice the big bee on the top right has half hearts for the wings. Anything goes, except squares, but that's obvious.

Okay, onto the bears now.

Before that just want to mention the bee wings. See them? They're ovals cut in half. The blue card needed a little bit of white, so I made the wings as opposed to drawing them.

I taught a class where I got the ladies to make wings like this and I remember them moaning and groaning because it was so fiddily (is it fiddly, or fiddily?). It was hard! "Oh Debra, what are you doing to us?" I remember one lady saying that as clear as day.

Sometimes I make stuff for classes at my desk and then when I get to class to teach it, it becomes more of a challenge than I (and the ladies) expected. We always thwart the issues and everyone goes home smiling in the end - at least they do when they leave the room. What they do when they're out of my sight is a mystery!

No, seriously, it's all in good fun, but I know I worked those ladies with the bee wings and we were laughing about it in the end. And to tell the truth, I'm not sure if I've made tiny wings like that since. Not that I wouldn't, I just haven't. Oh yeah, and we all know it's hard to keep up in class sometimes and something like a little bit of paper that won't do what it's supposed to can be a source of frustration sometimes, can't it?

I always say, It's Punch Art FUN, not Punch Art Stress or Punch Art Science or anything like that.

Fun, fun, fun (but I do crack the whip in class, don't I girls? Oh, how fun would it be if my brother actually came in and cracked his real whip? And without telling you? No, I'd never do that to you, but I wish I could! But I'd tell you first!)

Okay, so what was I saying? Can't remember, hold on...scrolling up....bees, wings and whips. What a ramble I'm on today.

Onto the bears...there are bears up there. And that's all I have to say. That, and they could be cuter.

To make them cuter:

• Glue the pink inner ears in the middle of the outer ears.


• Glue the ears down further behind the heads.


• Don't mount the circles on their faces with mounting tape.


• Draw more vertical lines for eyes - those are too round and not good.


• Make the arms and legs bigger - ie. use bigger hearts. That little bear's arms are tiny!


• Put gold commas on their noses.


• Don't write "big bear" or "small bear" on your card. That's dumb, but I did it for a reason when I made it.

Ah, much cuter.

Not all the things above have been applied, but a few have...thus, much cuter. And a baby bear in a nappy, well, the cute factor skyrockets with that.

(To make the overalls I punched the neckline with a circle and cut the arm holes out with a knife)

So, bees and bears. Fun, huh?

Have a grrrreat day! ha ha

:o)