Well, this is it...the last doily. I apologize for having taken so long to post it. I ended up devoting two days to construction and then landed in bed with a migraine the third day...laugh..you could say the timing of the migraine wasn't all that great. This post was suppose to be written and posted last night. Instead, I found myself crawling into bed around nine o'clock with a big'ol heating pad on my head. I'm feel'en much better this evening now the migraine has completely subsided. Ironically, I still forgot to take a photo of the doily today during regular daylight hours...me and the little one have been absent most the day..luckily, there was just enough light remaining this evening for me to grab a semi-decent photo of the doily after arriving home and getting the little guy to bed. This explains the blue undertones of the not-so-great photo above...it shall have to do for now.
This last doily is a continuation of the many techniques we've been working on thus far, though it does involve a bit more detail work than some of the other doilies we've created up until this point. Part of the reason being is that I used a fair number of smaller pieces to construct today's doily. There's the occasional hand-trimming technique that necessitates both patience and time. Also, I tucked in a few additional black borders between some of the papers to create a sort of divide between the different areas of the doily's design. Black borders give way to depth and are a quick and easy method for drawing lines on one's projects. Lastly, since I threw a transparency into the mix, there was the constant back and forth of figuring out how to layer the various elements of my doily to create a cohesive, desirable design. There were moments when I caught myself second guessing my decisions..if you find yourself doing the same, don't be at all that surprised...this doily is a bit of a toughie..laugh. Hang in there! It's our last one!
Let's begin by working on the background of our doily. Trim a 2.5" x 1.5" piece of black/cream polka-dot pattern paper (The Girls' Paperie"/Paper Girl - "Vintage Patchwork"). Trim a 2.5" x .25" strip of black cardstock and layer it beneath the bottom edge of the polka-dot paper as I've done above.
Select a short length phrase (MLYB - "Clothesline" cardstock stickers) from your "sticker stash" (should be long enough to fit the entire length of a 2.25" circle) and adhere it beneath the left bottom edge of black border as shown below.
Trim a 2.50" x 1" piece of blue/green cardstock and adhere it just beneath the polka-dot pattern paper as I've done above.
We're going to build a quick template to use as a guide for trimming our doilies background. Trim a 2.25" circle from a sheet of scrap paper using your circle cutter. Carefully lay the circle on top of your creation making sure that the polka-dot pattern paper is most predominant along the top half of the background and that your chosen phrase fits the length of the circle. Trace around the circle with a pencil. Remove the circle and trim traced circle from background creation.
This is where things start get a little tedious, so follow along closely as you'll not want to miss a single detail. Trim two black flowers from Graphic 45's "Hip to the Jive" pattern paper (Times Nouveau Collection). Adhere one of them to the right side of your background creation as I've done above. Set the other flower aside - we'll utilize it a lil' later on.
Trim a circle slightly larger than 2.25" from black cardstock and layer it beneath your smaller circle (Background Creation).
This trendy swank transparency frame/labels are still readily available over at Two Peas (Jennifer Pebbles/Printable Swank Labels). Of course, rather than print them on paper, print them on transparency instead (3M Inkjet transparency film - for inkjet users). Trim & layer one of the labels on top your design (don't adhere yet!) and use it for deciding the placement and sizing of items we'll be adding in the next few steps.
Trim a small section of "vintage book print" pattern paper (I used the bottom section of a vintage inspired die-cut tag - K & Company's "Handmade" collection?) to fit beneath your transparency label as shown above. Don't adhere yet..
Trim a small strip of black cardstock to fit beneath the right edge of vintage paper section and adhere in place so that only a marginal amount of black border is showing from the front. Adhere vintage paper section onto doily as shown below.
Love, love, love these transparency stickers from Pink Paislee...they're perfect for cutting into small pieces and adding them to projects of this size. Hand trim a 2.5" section from one of p.p.'s border stickers (Pink Paislee/"Amber Road" Borderlines Clear Stickers). Downsize your border section to fit the length of the vintage inspired paper that we just recently added to our doily. Peel the protective backing from the sticker and set it on top of vintage inspired paper as I've done above.
We're now going to create a permanent home for the transparency label. Adhere it in place using small glue dots and trim it to fit your circle.
Remember the pretty flower I had you set aside at the beginning of the tutorial? Well, it's time to finally make use of it - trim the small flower that accents the center portion of the large flower's overall design using a small pair of scissors. Adhere it on top of the transparency label and above the pre-existing flower we added earlier on using small glue dots. From the same pattern paper (Graphic 45), trim two more small flowers and set them aside.
Locate a small pink round epoxy sticker (MLYB/"Clothesline" epoxy stickers) and add it just above your flower.
You aren't required to have the suggested sticker to complete this next step. We'll be covering up the center portion of the sticker ("2") with a flower. If you'd like to use a round sticker of a different kind, please feel free to do so. Apply a black/pink small round sticker (7 Gypsies/"Mom" journal stickers) on top of the epoxy sticker from previous step.
Now I plan to overwhelm you with lots of info as we're nearing the end of today's doily. I apologize if this next step sort of throws you off a bit..it's not meant to...my indecisiveness is entirely at fault here.
Trim a pretty petite yellow/pink bouquet mix from either pattern paper or a small die-cut element. I happened upon my pretty bouquet via one of K & Companies die-cut packs (not sure which one..looked and looked, but couldn't find it!) Anyway, ensure the floral bouquet fits beneath the transparency label as shown above. Find a word that best suites your design and adhere it beneath the top left edge of your lovely floral bouquet. Adhere your pretty bouquet beneath the transparency label while (tuck it under) using only a tiny amount of wet adhesive.
With the two small flowers I had you set aside earlier (just a few short steps ago), finally adhere them on top of transparency label as shown above. Apply a medium gray rhinestone (Doodlebug) to each flower.
Select a letter and apply it as shown "(again, one that best suites your design - this alpha set is retired: Scenic Route).
Are you still with me? I hope so cause we're almost done..I promise. I thought it might be kind of fun and different to layer my doily with a large flower that I hand-trimmed from October Afternoon's "Collector's Item" pattern paper (Thrift Shop collection). It's the only doily I've yet to layer with something of this size and I did so because I felt the doily needed some extra "oomph"! What do you think? Is it too much? This last step is optional of course..I'll leave it up to you!
I think you have a fairly good idea of what you need to do next, so I'll skip it today(pattern paper backing..la, la, la - it's getting late here..laugh.).
Can you believe it everyone?! We're done with doilies! If you made it this far, a huge congratulations to you! This was an extensive, long tutorial, more so than any other project I've taught previously...all we need to do now is finalize the project's background -patchworking. I'm still analyzing the best method for "patching together' my background squares. I'm tempted to turn on my sewing machine and do some actual sewing, but I'm afraid not everyone following this tutorial has access to a sewing machine. I'm open to suggestions if you'd like to share an idea or two..leave them in the comment section below.
Happy weekend to all! Will return in a couple of days with a completed window box..ohhhh, this is going to be super exciting!! Can hardly wait..Take care you guys...
