We're nearly done with the Embellished Paper Doily tutorial. I have to say, this has probably been one of my most favorite tutorials ever..out of the many classes and tutorials I've done these past two years, this one beats them all! Never have I had soooo much fun and success in documenting the often tedious nature of my heavily embellished scrapbook style - wow! Even though it's taken me nearly a month to put this together (two weeks longer than planned!), having given myself the additional time to do so provided me ample opportunity to thoroughly express how I go about creating layers upon layers of various materials to build one-of-a-kind handmade embellishments. It's not always so easy for me to translate my choices and chronic scrapbooking habits. A tutorial such as this one can make all the difference in the world because it breaks the process of developing layers into a small series of understandable, tangible steps. Think about it, how often have you looked at a layout and thought, "Never in a million years could I do something like that!" Well, one of my goals has always been to show others in the community that there are truly no limits to what we can do as scrapbookers. Whether you're a seasoned scrapbooker or just getting started, learning how to fully utilize your scrapbook stash to create heavily detailed projects is more accessible than it's every been before. Often times, it's the starting of something that overwhelms us, but just as this tutorial demonstrates, by breaking the creative process into steps, we're less likely to feel this way. It's often easier to complete a project if we work on it in small increments...I rarely finish a layout in one sitting. It's never my goal to rush through a layout. I focus strictly on the process, not the outcome. It's where I find the greatest joy and peace because for the most part, I'm always in a rush when it comes to other areas of my life. When I'm scrapbooking, I put absolutely zero pressure on myself to "finish" whatever it is I'm doing (unless there's a tight deadline that needs to be met) whether it's a layout or altered project. By giving ourselves additional time (without excessive pressure) to scrapbook, we're capable of creating whatever it is we so desire..the possibilities are limitless!
Lets move on shall we? I actually had a chance to finish doily fifteen yesterday morning, but I ran out of time to write up instructions for it after finishing a long list of to-do's late yesterday. There's much going on right now as Crate Paper is about to announce their huge design team call!! If you haven't already heard about it, check up on it at the Crate Paper blog to find out all the latest details. The call goes live tomorrow...I'm working behind the scenes to help out with the new team as I'm CP's ongoing design team coordinator. If you happen to have questions about the call, feel free to email me. I'll try to answer your questions as quickly as is possible, though something tells me there may be the occasional delayed response as the next week or so is going to be quite involved for me. So many good things happening..also, Crate's going to start debuting there newest collections in a few short weeks (early July) via their blog - I've seen them first hand and let me tell you, Crate Paper has really outdone themselves this time around. They'll be at least one or two or three collections you'll want to add to your stash. Wink. Wink. To see them all, and to possibly win a collection (or two), join CP during the month of July for the full debut!
Ok, I'm really ready to move on this time..I promise..laugh. Sorry about that..guess I'm feel'en chatty this evening. Lots to say cause I've been away from this place for a few days..anyway, the first step in creating today's doily is to work on building a border heavy background for some floral landscaping we'll be adding a lil' later on. Punch a 3" decorative border from vanilla cardstock as I've done above (Martha Stewart/Rain Drop Edge Punch).
Adhere the decorative border on top the edge of a pink scallop die-cut card (or pink scallop die-cut edging because we'll not be including the white part of the card in the design of our doily - any kind of pink scallop edging will work). The die-cut card I used is no longer available (officially retired) - it's of an old Valentines collection from Making Memories.
Add a 1.5" by 3" section of gold/yellow cardstock just below the decorative border. Adhere in place with wet adhesive.
This is where I desperately seek out the perfect decorative accent to add to my doily..tack on a half hour worth of searching through drawers and stacks of misc. papers and finally, October Afternoon's strawberry journal card finds it's way to my desk..trim the pretty little pink curvy border from the card and adhere it on top the gold/ yellow cardstock and right below the decorative border. Ignore the cute stamped image - we'll not be including it..I know, huge bummer!! The problem is, we'll be covering this area with a multitude of small flowers and other misc.stickers & chipboard pieces in a few short steps. There simply isn't room for the stamp! Sorry you guys!
Trim a 2.25" circle from a piece of ornate, floral turquoise pattern paper (Webster's Pages/Home For the Holidays - "Mistletoe Kisses"). Trim a slightly larger circle from dark brown cardstock. Layer and adhere the two circles together using wet adhesive.
Adhere your customized border background onto lower portion of circle combination using wet adhesive. Trim excess border background from edges of circle as I've done above.
Punch a series of small white outlined turquoise circles from Studio Calico's "Doll House" (Home Front) pattern paper with a 3/4" circle punch. Trim the circles in half and tuck and adhere them beneath the top of edge of your decorative border background. Remove excess with scissors.
Apply American Crafts yellow floral rub-on (Mini Marks/"Botanique Aster Phrases") to the left most side of your circle creation. Make sure to carefully apply the rub-on as it could be easily damaged during the application process due to the lumps and bumps of our background.
Combine and layer "Smile" sticker (October Afternoon/"Fly a Kite" word stickers) with a small black rectangle label sticker (Jenny Bowlin/"Black Label" cardstock stickers). Add the layered combination to your doily as shown above (spot locations for your flowers first and then add your layered word sticker!).
Apply one small (Making Memories/"Flutter" dimensional chipboard stickers) and one large (Making Memories/"Flower Patch" layered buttons) pre-made floral embellishment sticker on top of the yellow flowers - in doing this, you'll create a sort of small bouquet that will serve as the focal point of your doily.
Layer a small antique inspired chipboard letter/sticker with black cardstock (The Girls' Paperie/"Paper Girl" chipboard alphabet). Trim the bottom edge of the sticker at an angle and add to your doily creation as shown above.
I've been waiting for the perfect excuse to use these braddies from Doodlebug. I actually have a bunch of Doodlebug's cutsie braddies sitting in drawers on top my desk for easy access, including the strawberry and cherry braddies. I think they're truly delightful! Anyway, if you don't have the braddies, no worries...simply find yourself a small blue bird to add to your doily creation. It will need to sit opposite of the bouquet we just created and above our layered word "smile".
There are a few additional tidbits you have the option of doing to further dress-up your doily creation. Outline the edges of your letter chipboard piece/sticker using a black fine tip marker. Fill in the outlined area with a gold gel pen. Also, locate two small leaves to add to your bouquet as I've done above (K & Company/"Berry Sweet" glittered chipboard alphabet box)..feel free to hand trim them from green paper - crease them down the center to further accentuate their shape.
Select a corresponding pattern paper to sit beneath your doily (Making Memories/An Old Easter Collection I no longer remember the name for). Doily fifteen is finally finished..and I will say it's definitely one of my faves :)
So here's the book I spoke about yesterday that inspired this latest doily. I'm almost think'en that most of you are regulars of the blog "Print & Pattern" - just recently, the released a long line-up of their favorite pattern designs via book format. I hadn't been expecting to find the book so close to home, but as luck would have it, I picked it up "on sale" at a stationary boutique that was in the middle of moving their store from one end of town to the other (Stillwater). I grabbed it at 40% off!! Personally, I'd be willing to pay full price for this treasure trove of creative ideas..it's available at Amazon if you're wanting to check it out!
Well, it's time to retire this post as it's well past midnight over here. Hope all of you guys are having a great week thus far! Be back with the final doily (the very last one!!) either Friday or Saturday - hopefully we'll have the project ready for display by early next week! Yah! Good night y'all!
