gone fishing

Our friend and very talented former co-worker at Martha Stewart, Shannon, threw the cutest fishing party for her 6-year old son, Erwin, and his friends. Erwin loves to fish and Shannon loves to create. I think this party is so clever!

The invitation was a collaborative effort – Erwin and Shannon looked at pictures of fish in books, finally deciding on a bass fish which Shannon sketched to Erwin's approval. Erwin then chose his favorite lettering and Shannon added typography to the design. Once they were both happy with the final artwork, Shannon traced the design on tracing paper. She then used a material called Speedy Stamp, laying the pencil tracing on the Speedy Stamp (the material picks up the pencil) and using linoleum cutters to carve out the design (keep in mind at this point, the design is now in reverse). Shannon says she tests the design as she carves, pressing a traditional rubber stamp ink pad over the artwork and then pressing onto paper. If she is happy with the results, she washes the Speedy Stamp and continues carving.

For faster printing results, Shanoon recommends a brayer and speedball washable printing ink in place of the rubber stamp ink pad.

The final art was then printed onto different colored construction paper. Genius!

For the homemade pinata, Shannon sketched an oversize fish on poster board and then cut out a front and back. A blown up balloon was sandwiched between the two fish and then taped together to create a base.

The pinata base was covered with strips of newspaper that were soaked in a papier mache mixture. The pinata was then left to dry overnight.

Shannon cut strips of tissue paper and snipped the ends (just like a regular pinata). Elmer's glue was used to adhere the tissue strips on top of one another. After the tissue dried, the pinata was ready to be filled with with goodies for the party.

Shannon even created a silk-screened fish shirt for the birthday boy – this is attention to detail that I love!

For the favor bags, Shannon printed fish on brown paper lunch bags using the Speedy Stamp method illustrated above. The bags were then filled with all things "fishy" – Swedish fish, chocolate-covered fish and plastic fish.

Wouldn't this be any little boy's (or big boy's!) idea of heaven? Thanks for sharing this lovely party with us, Shannon. Be sure to check out her Etsy site for some of the cutest baby onesies.

Comments

[Viv]

Love those brown paper goodie bags!

[shannon's mom]

Everything at this party was wonderful. Shannon's creativity is so admired and this event is only an inkling of her past and present projects. No matter the event or season, she has the most creative ideas ever!!!

[autumn]

wow!
how great. i love your mention of that product speedy stamp...i am going to make it my mission to do some project with it SOON. keep the ideas coming. i just love them.