Pineapple Tutorial

My friend loves pineapples and it suits her since the pineapple is the symbol of hospitality and she is the most hospitable person I know. Last year for Christmas I made her a pineapple from a book and it turned out pretty cute so I thought I would make another one and show you how it is done. I actually am going to have this say WELCOME instead of Gratitude but I didn't have the right words and I wanted to show you what it looked like with the lettering on it. Also I think this would look great with and OVAL FRAME. Okay lets get started. You will need:
paperback book (mine was just over 100 pages but this is a small pineapple)
picture frame (mine was a 5x7)
scrapbook paper
ink
glue


First things first rip the covers off your book. If you aren't going to attach it to the frame you may also want to trim the spine down a little with a razor blade so it will open up easier. Draw a cute half pineapple on a piece of paper for a pattern. If you are using a bigger frame use the whole length of the book. Starting with the bottom half trace it on your book and start cutting. *Save the scraps for another project!!*



Periodically trace again, if you don't your pineapple will keep getting wider and wider. Go back through and trace your leaves. I traced and cut the bottom for a few pages and then alternated with the top leaf so it gives it a little more dimension.

When you get done it should look something like this.

Next step is to ink the edges of your pineapple. For the leaves I used Versa Color Bamboo which is my all time favorite ink EVER!!! It is such a great olivey green color it is wonderful. For the bottom half I used a brown distressing ink watered down to give it a little lighter color (I applied it using a water color pen).

Let your lovely pineapple sit while you work on the frame. I cut a mat out of some cute green scrapbook paper and used it to cover the mat that came with the frame.

Okay reassemble your picture frame without the glass and with a sheet of solid white or cream in the background.

Center your pineapple on the background and glue down the first and last pages of the round section.

Add your lettering and set out to display.