One of my dear blogging friends
recently challenged me to a four piece swap.
The idea being we send each other 4 paper crafting items
of our choice and then each add a few items from our own stash
- make something with it all and send it back.
I'm always up for a challenge so of course agreed!
Here's what Mrs A sent to me
- sheet of designer paper
- pink fabric flower
- glass beads
- metal butterfly
It took me a few days before I decided what to do with it all!
It was the fabric flower that spurred me into action.
Look how pretty it is, so what did I do?
I took it apart - as you do!
Once the petals were separated
I had the idea of making them into little hats.
I was going to use clay heads at first, but changed my mind.
Very fashionable, wouldn't you agee!
I stuck the hats onto a (7" x 10") canvas board -
after adding two stylish ladies -
I wonder who they could be - lol!!
I glued the designer paper onto the canvas first with Paper Mod Podge
then gave it a light brayering of white acrylic paint to tone it down.
The ladies were pieced together - their faces, arms and legs
were drawn onto book text then painted a tan colour.
The clothes were pieces of scrapbook paper.
At the bottom of the canvas, I stuck on some tissue tape
and coloured it with water colour pastels.
The metal butterfly, I coloured with alcohol inks and it became
a hanger at the top of the canvas.
The Coco Chanel quote, I found on t'internet - printed onto
copy paper and stuck onto the canvas with more Paper Mod Podge.
Thus far I had used three of the four items
- the designer paper for the canvas background
- the pink flower for the hats
-the metal butterfly for the hanger
This left the glass beads and the only way I could incorporate them
I thought was to just hang them from the canvas - but that seemed
to be a bit of a cop out to me.
After several days of thinking about and playing with
the beads I decided to make them into a necklace -
but not one for wearing!
I had a wooden heart blank in my stash and drew
on a neckline - so the heart effectively became
a sort of torso / bodice hanging.
I stamped versamark ink on the lower part of the heart,
applied several layers of embossing powder and heated it up
- whilst still warm, I pushed an acrylic stamp into it.
I painted the top half of the heart with tan acrylic paint
and then a coat of Sparkle Mod Podge.
The finishing touches were a row of stickles at the neckline
and the lace around the edge.
Phew, all finished!
The worry now was would Mrs A like what I did with
her four pieces. I'm pleased to say yes, she did!!!
Here are the four pieces I sent to Mrs A -
- scrapbook paper
- lace
- ribbon
- beads
I can't wait to see what she makes of them all!
Finally, here's the inspiration for my canvas piece -
the two fashionable ladies with their fine hats!
A book called 'Collage Couture' by Julie Nutting.
It's full of wonderful ideas and I'd thoroughly recommend it.
Thanks for looking :)
