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The Embellished Paper Doily :: Final

  

 So, this shall be the official last post devoted to The Embellished Paper Doily tutorial. It's been a month in the making and at last, it is finished. All sixteen doilies have been permanently sealed inside their box and are awaiting a home upon one of my walls. I haven't finalized a spot for the project as of yet, but I'm think'en it will follow me upstairs after I've rearranged my new scrapbook space in the next few weeks. The next challenge will be trying to figure out how to best hang the box so that it doesn't fall and implode upon itself. I've already had that happen once (a different project) and let me tell you, it's none to pretty. I don't want to jeopardize the safety and security of this new window box, so I'm contemplating utilizing some kind of velcro set-up. It's amazing the durability that velcro exhibits for holding things together - 3M has a really great velcro product available that's supposedly designed for hanging light weight items on walls. I have a few samples of the product..we'll see if it actually works. I'm keep'en my fingers crossed...cause I've had very little luck hanging things the traditional way. Yikes!

 

 

Here's the final product..seeing it come full circle yesterday brought me a great deal of joy as I've been committed to the process of creating it for nearly a month! Having done so has been entirely worth it - I felt an unexpected nudge of excitement the moment I turned over the box..I knew this was going to be a good one. Upon first peek, I reluctantly smiled before giving way to pure happiness. Ohhh, so much better than I could of ever imagined...sitting pretty amongst small squares of crumbled pattern paper, the doilies look astonishingly beautiful. Together, they're a culmination of wonder and awe and to think, all were accomplished in less than thirty days!! Perfect timing and so worth the wait :)) Now, tell me about yours...I'd love to see it if you haven't shared it already (Flickr).

 

 

 

 

You're probably curious as to how I glued everything together now that you have doilies awaiting a home..it wasn't too terribly difficult as I had originally anticipated when I first began the project. Instead of adhering the background patchwork pattern paper squares directly to the background foam board that accompanied my window box, I adhered them on 12" x 12" cardstock first. The cardstock is slightly smaller than the foam board though, so it's vital that it sits on top the foam board while adhering your pieces down to avoid any of the board showing through once the project is complete. You'll have to maneuver the squares just slightly outside the boundaries of the 12" x 12" cardstock so that the squares cover the entire board - The board shouldn't be noticeable! Even though your adhering the squares onto cardstock, it's the board that ultimately matters - cover it up! Sorry about having to repeat this..I don't want any of you to jeopardize the effort and time you've invested in creating your lovely doilies. It's important to get this right the first time to avoid having to tear things up later on. Whatever backing came with your window box, make sure that it's entirely covered via patchwork to avoid having it peek through your project. 

A quick note about the patchwork; I hand-trimmed all my squares because I desired the not-so-perfect, hand-quilted look. If you chose to trim your squares using a straight edge trimmer, your patchwork may look slightly different then mine and that's totally ok. Just go with it...After hand-trimming a square, distress it with Ranger Distress Ink ("Frayed Burlap") and then curl forward the four sides of the square using your fingers. Set each square down in it's proper location (with it's corresponding doily) to preserve the appearance of your project's design. After all squares have been distressed and curled, adhere them down as instructed using a strong wet adhesive (Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive). Start from the top and then work your way down in creating your patchwork. 

The doilies are the last items to be added to the project. Simply adhere them accordingly using again, a strong wet adhesive. 

 

 Allow your project to dry a few minutes before moving on with this final step. We're now going to adhere the entire patchwork/doily creation to the backing of the window box using a strong spray adhesive. Find a large box or large piece of newspaper and set it down on the floor. This will serve to protect the surface of whatever it is you'll be spraying near or on. Set the backing on top of your spray area. Holding the adhesive spray about 7" or so from the backing, spray an even, light coat of adhesive onto the backing. Carefully lay your patchwork/doily creation onto the backing while the adhesive is still wet. Lightly apply pressure to all four sides of your creation to ensure that it's securely adhered to the backing. One or two of the edges may "pop up" unexpectedly - apply additional pressure where needed. 

 

 

Ok, so my window box is hanging, though temporarily. It's not at all secure in this spot..I simply put it there so that I could photograph it while on display.

Thank-you again to all who followed me on this journey. I've thoroughly enjoyed your company and comments and already have plans to start a new tutorial next month. I think I might need a lil' break though before then, so I'm taking the next three to four days off from my blog to catch up on some work and other various projects needing to be done this week, including one for Elle's Studio!! Share more about this with my next post :)

Also, I quickly want to mention that Crate Paper is still seeking applicants for their new, upcoming design team..haven't heard about it yet? Find all the latest details at crate.typepad.com - the deadline to apply is the end of this week! Have a question about the call? Feel free to email me - I check my inbox daily!  

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Sixteen

 

 

 

 

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...

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Fifteen

 

 

 

 

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! 

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Fourteen

 

 

 

 

 

Creating handmade flowers has developed a level of contagiousness that goes beyond any trend I've seen thus far in the scrapbook industry. All one has to do is visit their favorite blogs to see how very popular handmade flowers are right now. Since the very beginning of my scrapbook journey, I've been passionate about flowers. I've sought out numerous ways to make them, but it wasn't until I started combining untraditional elements to create flowers that my insane passion for layered flowers really took off. My specialty is building flowers from unlikely materials combinations. I'll combine anything once to see if it will result in a one-of-a-kind blossom. At this point, I mostly focus on creating flowers from diecuts, pattern paper, cardstock, transparencies, buttons, brads and rhinestones. On occasion, I'll include fabric, felt or sewing on my flowers..though for me, fabric is usually unruly and because of this, doesn't always fair well with my design choices. For the most part, I stick with paper, stickers and plastic - the forgivable stuff. 

 I've coordinated one of my standard flowers to coincide with today's doily. The last flower we made was of the very first doily...finally, we're due for another. Follow along below to find out to make it! 

 

 

I won't bother telling you how much die-cut/lace paper I've collected these last few years. Even though it doesn't hold the same appeal for me as it once did, I still enjoy using it from time to time. The die-cut paper shown above is from Making Memories Fifth Avenue Collection - do you remember this collection? I loved it..great stuff! It's one of those collections I'll never dispose of - classic and true. Anyway, you might want to find out if you have this die-cut paper because it's the first item we'll be working to begin our doily! (Making Memories/Fifth Avenue - 12" x 12" "S" Diecut)

Hand trim the large lace circle shown above from Making Memories lace paper I just mentioned - do so carefully! This is an easy one to mistake on, especially if you're in a hurry..trust me, I almost ruined mine and guess what, there's only one circle on the entire page!! Oh brother..watch out! 

 

 

Paint lace circle with yellow/gold acrylic paint - brush it on lightly using a dry foam brush. After the paint has had some time to dry, spritz the circle with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (Sunflower). Allow a few additional minutes for the circle to dry once again and then distress it with Ranger Distress Ink (Frayed Burlap) applied via sponge.

 

 

Lay the circle on top a sheet of pink/green ornate pattern paper (Anna Griffin/Isabelle Collection). Lightly trace around the circle with a pencil and trim circle from paper. Adhere the two circles together as shown below. 

  

  

Layer the circle combination with warm dark turquoise cardstock and adhere it to your selected doily. 

 

 

Here's another item you might remember that we utilized earlier on in the project - Making Memories "Flea Market" chipboard/clear clock faces (Target). Find the above turquoise clock transparency from the pack of clock faces and adhere atop the doily using small glue dots. 

 

 

Now it's time to build our "floral" window box for adding to our doily and to create a place for framing the center of the flower. Again, this is another 5th avenue item from Making Memories (5th Avenue Die-cuts) - 2" Olive Green Floral Die-Cut. Punch a 1 1/4" circle from the center of the die-cut using a 1 1/4" circle punch. Adhere the flower to the doily using foam core pop dots. Note how the flower sort of "pop" off the surface of the doily and creates a sort of shadow around the inside edge of the flower's opening. Very cool! 

 

 

Yep, we're about to cover up a detail that might of been worth keeping (clock), but space is limited here, so a few sacrifices have to be made in order to continue building up the layers of our flower. Punch a 1" circle from Vanilla cardstock. Adhere the circle on top the clock face as I've done above using wet adhesive. 

 

 

Some of my favorite chipboard pieces are from American Crafts. This particular yellow pinking circular chipboard frame is of their "Letterbox House" collection and is included as part of a frame chipboard set that is still readily available at Two Peas in a Bucket. Adhere the frame on top the olive green floral die-cut using wet adhesive. 

 

Layer this lovely layered transparency/cardstock flower (K & Company/"Handmade" Mixed Petal Layered Accents) over chipboard frame and adhere in place using one large foam core pop dot (just beneath the center of the flower).  

 

 

I really struggled in trying to figure out what to use for finishing the flower's center. I originally thought a large fabric brad would do the trick, but I couldn't find a colored brad that matched well with the color palette of my doily, so I opted to use a button instead. Choose a medium gold/yellow button from your button collection. Locate a medium black patterned brad from your brad collection. Insert the medium size brad through the holes of your button and bend the prongs back to keep the brad in place. Adhere the button on top your flower using multiple large glue dots. 

 

 

You should now have a doily that look's similar to the one above - find a coinciding background paper to use beneath your flower and trim to size. I've yet to finish this step, but will do so in the next couple days. The lighting wasn't ideal while creating my doily, which should explain the less-than-perfect pictures shown with today's tutorial. 

Thank for allowing me an additional day to get this tutorial ready for you guys! We have two remaining doilies that need tending to and the second to the last one will find it's way here Wednesday...now I'm off to check out our flickr group! Thank you so very much for finding me today - happy Monday to all!

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Thirteen

 

 

 

 

They snuck up on me from around the corner. I hadn't expected to find them so conveniently at one of my local scrapbook stores, but in a matter of seconds just prior to leaving the establishment, there they were, in all their glory, the two collections I had been waiting for since CHA Winter - The Girl's Paperie (Paper Girl & On Holiday) - almost in their entirety (embellishments & paper). Without a second thought, I threw embellishments from both collections in my basket and dashed to the register to bring them home with me. It feels like I waited forever for this release to present itself and now that it finally has, I've brought it center stage with today's doily! Come check it out!

 

 

To begin with, start by building a decorative pattern paper background for your doily. Trim a 2.25" circle from golden yellow pattern paper (Bella Blvd./ Camped Out - "Fireside. Trim a slightly larger circle from a bold, black pattern paper (October Afternoon/ Hometown - "Norm's News"). Layer the two circles together and adhere them to your doily. 

 

 

 

Look at all the prettiness with them diecuts...while grabbing this photo, I was badly wanting to organize the diecuts into small little piles so that I could add them to my color coordinated diecut drawers. Of course, I was going to use a few for the project, so I had to keep them out...temporarily. I'm a bit of an obsessive organizer. It's a challenge for me to keep anything in a pile if it hasn't already been categorized and given a home outside my desk area prior to my using it. I don't exactly know what the reasons are for my being diabolical about splitting things into categories, but I'm easily overwhelmed when my scrapbook room is overtaken by "stuff". Little cubbies make me happy. 

 

 

We're going to work on a building a frame for our doily. Locate this distinctive ornate frame (or one like it) from The Girl's Paperie die-cut pack ("Paper Girl") I have shown above. Lay the frame on top a sheet of black/cream newsprint pattern paper (Graphic 45/Communique - "A Fine Specimen"). Trace the inside opening of the frame onto the paper and trim around the outside area of tracing with a scissors. Set the newsprint oval aside temporarily. We'll add it to the doily shortly.

 

 

I was trying to come up with a way to dress up the frame without overwhelming or taking over the background of the frame with a bunch of misc. embellishments. The pattern paper we used for backing the frame is especially beautiful and of it's own unique design. To bring forth the design within the frame, we're going to add some curtains to the backside of the frame..this is a rather challenging step, so give yourself some time to perfect your curtains so that their of a consistent, equal size and sit just opposite of each other in identical positions. 

 

 

Trim two small scallop sections from a large blue scallop border sticker (The Girl's Paperie/"Paper Girl" sticker market). If you're without this sticker, substitute it with a different scallop sticker or diecut scallop paper boarder. Layer each of the scallop sections with black cardstock as I've done above. Adhere to the scallop sections to the backside of your frame as shown. Trim any excess scallop that might be showing from the front using a small pair of scissors. 

 

 

Remember the text oval I had you put aside earlier on in the tutorial? Adhere it to the doily using wet adhesive. Carefully note the placement of your oval as it should sit just beneath your frame and will need to be on center with the frame. I suggest predetermining the placement of the oval by locating it's spot on top the doily and marking the location with a pencil just prior to adhering it down. After you have determined the best spot for the oval, adhere it to the doily with wet adhesive. 

 

 

At this point, you should have a location established for your frame. Adhere it in place using foam core pop dots. Now take a peek at that background!! Doesn't it look cool?! Love how the letters sort of "pop" out from beneath the curtains..super cute!! 

 

 

So of course, it's time to add a few additional features to our frame/doily. Don't panic, we won't cover it up entirely! I promise..we're just going to introduce a few details to the design so that the doily feels complete without overbearing the frame and the lettered background. Apply a typewriter phrase (October Afternoon/"Thrift Shop" cardstock stickers) to a Jenni Bowlin black rectangle label sticker as shown above. Trim the label sticker just beneath the phrase so that only the phrase is visible. Dispose of the bottom half of the label sticker. 

 

 

Add the phrase/label sticker combination to the inside of your frame as shown above. Be careful in that the phrase doesn't cover too much of the background. If it does, move it over so that it's partly beneath the rightmost curtain.It should peek through only slightly..again, placement is key here. 

 

 

Insert a dark brown pearl decorative brad (American Crafts) to the inside of the frame, just above the "our" of the "Our History" phrase. Maybe wait to add the brad until you've decided on the ideal location for the butterfly we're about to create. Most of what I do can't be charted with words or measurements. I usually rely on instinct most the time, so be prepared to move things around once in a while. 

 

 

 

Find a small size yellow butterfly that most pleases you..make sure it's not too big to include on top your frame. It shouldn't take over the entire doily. The one I used is around a 1/2" or so wide. In this case, less is more. 

Create a circular base on which to sit the butterfly by stamping a 1" ornate circle (KI Memories/"La Di Dah" clear stamp set) on soft turquoise/white dotted pattern paper (Crate Paper/Blue Hill - "Cloud") using black dye-based ink. Punch the circle out with a 1" circle punch. Color the outermost border of the circle with a gold gel pen and layer the stamped circle with black cardstock. 

Bend the wings of your butterfly slightly forward with fingers and adhere it to the circle base using glue dots. 

 

 

To complete the doily (yep, we're almost done!!), adhere your butterfly creation to the lower right corner of the frame with glue dots (glue dots work better here then wet adhesive - not sure why, but they do..I tried wet adhesive and the circle refused to stay in place..thank goodness for glue dots!). If you haven't already added the brad at this point, do so now, along with the butterfly creation. Lastly, apply various sized light turquoise rhinestones (My Mind's Eye/Lush - "Blue" rhinestones) in and around the inside of the frame. 

 

 

And finally, choose a pattern paper to host your lovely doily and trim it to size (Making Memories/Passport - "PostCard" double-sided pattern paper). 

So, tell me, do you like the doily? Ohhh, I hope so..feel free to change it up a bit if the design doesn't entirely suit your tastes. The project is yours and should represent what you're most comfortable working with. Thank-you for stopping by to catch up with what remains to be one of the final four doilies of our window box project - we'll see you Monday! Have a great weekend you guys! 

Oops! One other quick mention before I leave you..Sassafras is debuting a delightful new mid-release that you'll not want to miss out on, especially if your a person whom is fond of blues, turquoises, greens and yellows..it's titled "Indie Girl"..here's but a sample of this newest collection. Visit Sassafras's blog for the full reveal!

 

   

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Twelve

 

 

 

 

 

It appears our small "Paper Doily" Flickr group is growing, though I'd love to see more of you come on and post your own personal creations. If you haven't had a chance to check out what's been shared thus far, I highly recommend running straight way to Flickr after finishing reading this latest post. There are a couple of enthusiastic doily makers over there who've been busy bees these last few weeks. They're doilies are exceptionally wonderful to peek at, so be sure visit the group!

I have finally finished this upcoming next doily..man, it's been a heck of a week. I have a confession to make..actually, it's not really a confession per say, but more of a "real life" scenario that I've been hiding from you guys for quite some time now. To some folks, this may not seem that big of a deal, but to me, this is excruciatingly frustrating as there are no easy solutions to my latest ongoing problem. I was recently diagnosed with rosacea, a painful facial skin disorder that leads to redness and on occasion, acne. For the longest time, I've been living with it because it's always been fairly manageable for me. After Eric's passing, I started to experience rosacea flare-ups. I thought maybe I could get away with ignoring them, but this last month has been a real nightmare as my skin has been more temperamental than usual. I finally saw my primary physician about the problem a month or so ago and she referred me to a well known, reputable dermatologist in the area. Luckily, we were able to get me in for an appointment to see the dermatologist within a short period of time..it's coming up next week. I can't tell you how desperate I am to see the guy. My skin has been terrible these last five days and I've been struggling to find products that will cooperate with it. Between scrapbooking, blogging, working and caring for the kiddo, I've been hunting down solutions for my ever growing rosacea issue. If I could just stick a bucket over my head and cut two holes out the front, I totally would at this point because I'm truly tired of dealing with my skin. Laugh. So, if it's been a little slow here this week, this should explain it...hopefully the dermatologist will be able to provide me with some answers soon..keeping my fingers crossed. 

Enough about that! How about we start working on the next doily? It's ready for ya!

 

 

I'm hoping you'll have a pretty floral spray stamp that you'll want to use for this step. You'll definitely need a large floral stamp of some kind, so dust off that stamp collection!  The next step is awaiting your full attention! 

Stamp a large floral spray (Hero Arts/Clear Design - "Asian Elements") on a sheet of dark turquoise cardstock using either clear embossing ink or gold pigment ink. Emboss image with gold embossing powder and heat set in place using a heat gun.  

 

 

Lets punch a scallop circle from our stamped image. Punch a 2" scallop circle from the stamped image using a large 2" scallop punch or diecut set-up. Trim an additional 2.25" circle from blue/turquoise ledger pattern paper (Cosmo Cricket/Girl Friday - "Tuesday"). Adhere the two circles together using wet adhesive. Set them aside for now. 

**Feel free to distress both circles using Ranger Distress Ink - "Frayed Burlap" I distressed most items included as a part of my doily with this ink. I always distress items before adding them to my projects.  

 

 

You'll probably have to do some substituting here as I'm not entirely sure this flower is still available from My Mind's Eye (Laundry Line - Coastal "Curious"). Adhere a large orange/yellow sunflower on top your selected doily using a minimal amount of wet adhesive (Scotch "Quick Dry Adhesive" - love it! Use it for everything).

 

 

Take out the two adhered circles from the first step and adhere them on top the yellow/orange sunflower using large foam core pop dots. 

 

 

I've seen this technique used quite a bit by card makers and stamp connoisseurs, and I think it's a great way to add a little pizazz to a stamped image. Apply four small dark olive pearls to center of each flower as I've done above. Only apply pearls to the top most flowers (ignore those along the bottom). We'll be applying embellishments to the bottom section of the doily following the next step.

 

 

Find a 1" - 1.25" green label circle (October Afternoon/"Fly A Kite" label stickers) from your label collection and layer it with black cardstock. Adhere the label to lower left corner of your doily using a large foam core pop dot. 

 

 

Can you just tell how much I love transparencies with this project? Well, I have a huge crush on them and use them frequently on most my projects. They're the ideal kind of embellishment for adding additional layers to one's project. Because they're see-thru, they impede very little on the overall design of a project/embellishment combination. I'm constantly searching for new ways to create with them. I have drawers full of transparencies - all coordinated by color!

Adhere medium size heart transparency on top of label sticker using a foam core pop dot - watch out for placement of the dot because you'll want it to sit just beneath the banner we're about to create. 

 

Trim the "Make A Wish" phrase from Cosmo Cricket's "Elements" paper (Earth Love - sheet of diecut cards). Further trim the phrase to look like a banner as I've done above. Now we're going to embellish our banner using thin strips of yellow cardstock trimmed using Fiskar's Pinking Edgers. Adhere these strips beneath the top and bottom edges of the banner. Because we want our banner to look a little disheveled, wrinkle up the banner slightly using your fingers (be gentle!!). Adhere the banner over the heart using foam core pop dots (apply just one pop dot beneath the word "wish"-no further pop dots should be needed). 

 

 

 

Note how the banner has a sort of "curl-like" appearance. This is intentional. I didn't want the banner to sit flat. This project is all about texture and dimension and by including a little bit of wrinkle, the banner looks more believable and the doily is enliven by it's less-than-perfect feel. 

 

 

This is by far my most favorite part of today's doily. Instead of keeping the "Make a Wish" phrase "as is", I dressed a portion of it up with a layered circle and letter "a". I chose to do this because the phrase felt rather flat to me. By replacing the "a" part of the phrase with something more exciting, the banner looks ten times better! 

Trim a .5" circle (oh yes, there is a .5" circle punch out there if you can find it..Archivers sells one for around $5..not entirely a bad deal) from the same turquoise ledger paper we used earlier on. Layer the circle with black cardstock (hand trim!). Apply a brown cursive letter "a" onto layered circle (Webster's Pages/Storytellers timeless letter stickers - "Color Sweet Life"). 

 

 

Again, here's another one of those items you're probably going to have to substitute with something else from your stash. Layer a large blue heart with a small yellow heart (Heidi Grace Chipboard/Collection Unknown) and adhere them to your doily as I've done above using a large pop dot. Adhere your letter "a" creation to the heart using wet adhesive. 

I almost ended the doily here, but decided to take it one step further with a button, rhinestone and two trimmed decorative pins. Adhere a yellow plastic button just beneath the right, upper side of the heart with a large glue dot. Add a small orange rhinestone to the center of the button. Lastly, trim off the sharp points from two decorative pins and tuck them beneath banner (through one of the foam core pop dots). For extra security, use two small glue dots beneath the leaves of the pins to keep pins from moving. 

 

 

 

Find yourself a pattern paper to create a cozy home for your doily. I selected a pattern paper that wasn't too matchy, matchy. It's from K & Company's "Handmade Lofty Nest" Specialty Paper Pad - cute, eh?! 

 

 

So, that ends it for today's post! This was a biggie!! Jeez Luiz! Laugh. And just cause I want all of you to see what a big mess my scrapbook space is, I've posted a picture of it below. A project of this magnitude requires quite a bit of product..the paper stash alone stands at around thirty - forty at this very moment..yikes! I should start putting some of it away..laugh. Have a great day you guys! Again, be sure to visit the Flickr "Paper Doily" group page and post your doilies if you haven't already (or whatever project you created as a result of this ongoing tutorial). Thanks!! 

 

 

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Eleven

 

 

 

 

So tell me, are you ready to just jump right in and get started with this latest doily? There's much I still want to share with you since having attended college orientation last Thursday, but I'm going to put that on hold so we can dive in and learn a bit about how to construct what I consider to be the most detailed doily yet...yep, I've mentioned this already, but I'll say it again, doily eleven takes this project to a whole new level. It's fairly involved as we'll be working with a lots of small pieces to create this next design. 

It's typically the layering of both large & small size elements that I love most about scrapbooking. The two together create an atmosphere of depth and detail that takes one beyond the surface and the multiple layers that often define my pages. Before beginning a new project, I gather a mass amount of various supplies that I think might work nicely together from multiple containers set up in my studio area. I have many times shared images of how I store my scrapbook supplies. My supplies are divided according to type; rub-ons, label stickers, work stickers, flowers, etc. Each is either color or manufacturer categorized so that finding supplies is quick, easy and fits well with how I create my pages. Right now, I have piles of product on my desk for coordinating this project. Routinely, I refer to directly to my product stash for technique ideas. Having these products available to me is what provides the inspiration and the coexisting scale of both small and large elements I so enjoy working with. Without them, I'd be hopelessly lost...I'm as passionate about scrapbook supplies as I am about preserving memories. Both continue to fuel my love for this hobby...through and through.

 

 

To start off with for creating doily eleven, you'll need to create a framed rectangle for the placement of the letter and other misc. embellishments we'll be including on this doily. Once again, I used my Making Memories Slice Machine ("Findings" Cartridge) and cut a 2.5" mini tabbed index card from Graphic 45's "Hip to the Jive" pattern paper (Times Nouveau Collection). I then trimmed a slightly smaller rectangle to fit inside my card from Studio Calico's "Window Seat" pattern paper (Documentary Collection). Adhere the two items together as I've done above. One quick note, be sure to round the top left and right corners of both items before combining them using a small corner rounder punch. 

 

 

I realize that most of you probably won't have this stamp as part of your supply collection, so feel free to substitute it with either a label sticker, diecut or other kind of stamped image. Stamp a rectangle label style frame onto "Window Seat" paper using black dye-based ink (Hampton Art/Creative Cafe - "Journal and Jot Numbers" Clear Stamps). Coincidently, the stamped image I chose is the exact same size as my rectangle paper. The two were a perfect match!

 

 

 

Refer to both the above images for this next step - Pre-measure and trim both black cardstock and pale turquoise paper (Vintage - Unknown Source) to fit inside stamped frame. Layer and adhere the two pieces of paper together. Locate a gold floral rub-on and apply it onto layered paper piece (KI Memories/"La-di-dah" Rub-Ons - Optional Addition**).

 

 

Select a letter that best represents your most current role in life (motherhood, artist, etc) (Cosmo Cricket/"The Boyfriend" Adhesive Chipboard Letters). Back a portion of the letter with a black label sticker (7 Gypsies/"Photographie" Stickers). Beneath the sticker's right edge, adhere a small section of yellow/green cardstock. 

 

 

 

Also beneath the sticker's right edge, trim and adhere a small section of cream lace transparency (Hambly/"Old Lace" Vintage White Overlay) using small glue dots. 

 

 

Adhere your letter creation to the left side of the paper piece from the previous step using wet adhesive. We're about to cover up the pretty lil' flower, so hang on to your boot straps everybody!! I realize that all too often, I have a tendency to cover things up after the fact..I apologize upfront about this..I rarely pre-plan my projects and part of what's involved with layering simply requires one to cover things up from time to time. It's par for the course and goes without explanation in most instances. 

 

These are genious lil' letters from October Afternoon (Mini Market Stickers - "Ledger") - add a few of them to your creation to support your chosen letter as I've done above. 

 

 

 

We're nearing the finish line here, so hang in there!! Also, we're going to be adding elements both above and below the overlay section of our design, so pay close attention from this point forward!! Add a small yellow flower onto the top, lower portion of lace overlay(Making Memories/"Flutter" Felt Dimensional Stickers). Add a second flower (KI Memories/"Posh" Softies) beneath the yellow flower and overlay. 

To lend some more detail to our floral set-up, scatter a series of various size yellow pearls above and below the overlay and around the flowers as I've done above. Again, some of the pearls will sit on top the overlay portion of our design and some will sit below - test out various location options for each pearl! The pearls can easily be removed and relocated :)

 

 

For additional texture, insert a rhinestone/gem brad through the right, bottom corner of our layered paper piece (GCD/"Artsy Urban" Vintage Brads) - this will finally complete this portion of the doily. Carefully watch as you create a hole for the placement of the brad. Also, make sure to bend the prongs of the brad inwards so that they're not visible from the front. Adhere layered paper piece onto index card from very first step using large foam core pop dots.

 

 

We could easily save ourselves from doing more work by ignoring this step, but I felt the doily needed further color. Trim a 2.25" circle from blue pattern paper (October Afternoon/Fly a Kite - "Sprinklers"). Layer circle with a slightly larger circle cut from Black cardstock. Adhere both circles on top your selected doily using wet adhesive. Finally, adhere embellished index card onto doily using lots of wet adhesive.

 

 

You should now have a gorgeous doily that looks similar to the one above - normally, this is where I would mention "select background paper to lay beneath your doily and trim to size", but I haven't quite made it this far yet with doily eleven. I'll have an updated photo of the project posted for you to check out this coming Monday (evening)! 

Wowza! I think I'm out of breath..laugh. That was a longgg one..still with me?! Hope so..promise the next doily will be a tad bit easier to create..just a tad. Laugh. Anyway, hope you guys are having a wonderfully warm, relaxing weekend! I'll return shortly with doily twelve! Only Five more to go!! 

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Ten

 

 

 

 

Here we are again, though this time around, we're officially beyond the halfway point of our ongoing project - today I'm presenting doily number ten..oh yes, we've finally reached doily ten and we still have six more to go..personally, six doesn't feel like a whole lot to me considering how far we've come. Each doily represents nearly two to three hours of pure creativity and we've already managed to finish nine of them...the hours are adding up, but boy, is the project coming along nicely or what?! I think the time invested has been heavily worth what has resulted thus far..so lets keep going, shall we?! 

Today's focus is the shadow box - big or small, they're easily made if one has the right materials on hand. Not really sure what I mean by the term "shadow box"? Think of the window box we're creating right now, at this very moment. Instead of our creation sitting directly beneath a pane of glass, it sits about an inch or two away from it and in between the glass and our creation is open, undisturbed empty space. Well, the shadow box is exactly this same set-up, though it doesn't include glass. We'll be making a miniature shadow box using pattern paper and other various kinds of embellishments including a petite multi-layer flower & easy-to-find diecut from Cosmo Cricket. After completing the handmade shadow box, we'll sit it on top a layered circle combination and our selected doily. The shadow box concept is today's technique feature! Follow along below...

 

 

Oh yes, more circles..you'll need to make two this time around. The first is 2.25" and is trimmed from a warm gray/brown pattern paper (SEI/Claire - "Winsome"). Layer this circle with a slightly larger second circle cut from dark brown cardstock. Curl the edges of the gray/brown circle slightly forward with your fingers. Adhere the two circles together using wet adhesive. 

 

 

Adhere the circle combination on top your selected doily as I've done above.

 

 

 

Here's where you'll begin building the "shadow box". Using some kind of die-cut set-up (hopefully, you have one available..if not, feel free to substitute with a pre-made frame or cut a simple open design by hand using a medium size label sticker/diecut as a template - trace and trim), create a small/medium size frame from green polka-dot pattern paper (October Afternoon/The Thrift Shop - "Complete Set")(Making Memories Slice Machine/"Findings" Card). 

Sit the frame on top a diecut design of your choosing..I went with a diecut card from Cosmo Cricket's "Earth Love" collection. The "I Believe" banner fits perfectly inside the frame. I actually sized the frame to fit my chosen background. Feel free to do the same! After you've centered the frame on top the background, trace along the inside of the frame with a pencil. Trim traced area from background and set it aside. 

 

 

Even though we don't ordinarily think to purchase leaves, they're often of great use for creating realistic looking flowers to add to our layouts and/or projects. I'll openly admit that I don't routinely use them, but I still try to keep a pack or two around just in case I run into a situation that benefits from the addition of leaves. With this next step, I'll be utilizing my Seven Gypsy Velvet Leaf collection ("Meadow Green").

 

 

Adhere two green leaves to the bottom area of the doily as I've done above using large size glue dots. Layer the shadow box background on top the leaves and doily using lots of wet adhesive. Hold background in place for at least one minute before moving onto the next step.

 

 

Adhere frame on top of background with small (really small) foam core pop dots. Ensure that there are enough pop dots in place to the frame from collapsing. Spread them evenly around the frame - trim pop dots to size if they're too large. 

 

 

 

Create your own one-of-kind multi-layered flower to sit just above the leaves along the bottom of the shadow box. I used the following five elements to create my flower: 1.25" circle (Gray/Brown Pattern Paper), 1" circle (Golden Yellow Pattern Paper), 1" Flower (Martha Stewart Punch/"Cornflower"), Small Pink Flower Sticker (October Afternoon/Thrift Shop Cardstock Stickers) and Antique Brown Brad (Bo Bunny/Gypsy iCandy Brads). After you've created the flower, attach it to the frame using large glue dots. 

 

 

Find a coordinating pattern paper (October Afternoon/Weathervane - "Cozy Home") to sit beneath the doily and trim to size (around 3" x 3"..maybe a little bigger - pre-measure before cutting!) You're now finished with doily number ten!

That about does it for today..I have to wake up extra early tomorrow morning to attend orientation at River Falls. It'll be an all day endeavor..the first of many as I'll officially be a full time student starting September 1st! Change is nearing...the orientation is a reminder of how vastly different life will be starting this Fall..I'm excited and nervous to go a new direction, but I aspire to earn a four year degree..finally...more about this a little later on. Thanks for checking in! Have a great Thursday you guys!

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Nine

 

   

 

 

I mentioned earlier on that I would be away for a few days taking a much needed break in honor of Memorial Day. I literally set the computer aside and devoted the entire weekend to family and the great outdoors. On Saturday, we visited my sister's home in Wisconsin for what turned out to be a family "pool party". It was so much fun! The following day, I took Ethan to Big Marine Park Reserve, a regional park along the scenic St.Croix River (Minnesota). Ethan had his first official "beach" experience while there...never have I seen him so excited about sand in my life. At first, he couldn't quite figure out why sand kept getting caught between his toes, so he insisted that we stop every two seconds to clean his feet. Eventually, he gave up on the whole "no sand between toes" deal and found himself a large pile of sand to play in...didn't take him long to start throwing sand in the air. To revert his attention, I suggested he bury my feet. We ended up burying each other's feet. We had a wonderfully good time at the beach..so much so that I'm already making plans for our next beach visit :) While at the reserve, I picked up a Washington County park pass that'll last us 'til next May - yah!! 

Before leaving the park, we spent some time on the play gym. We then picked up some ice cream at a local ice cream parlor before finishing out the remainder of the day at my folk's place. Today, we visited Eric's resting place with family. We also meddled around Woodbury (local town) and ran a few errands. We didn't return home until just a few hours ago and this is my first time on the computer since late last Thursday..it looks like I have lots of catching up to do..including posting the next doily, which I've done below - take a look!

 

 

 

This particular doily isn't too difficult. It does involve more circle cutting, which should be of no surprise at this point for many of you. You're once again going to need your circle cutter - go dig it out! :)

 

 

Trim two 2.25" circles from the following papers: Vanilla cardstock & Light Turquoise petite floral pattern paper (Bella Blvd/Estate Sale - "Hat Box"). Hold the circles together in one hand and trim in half as I've done above. 

 

 

Never have I scored such a great bargain on stamps before! Michaels had a super duper awesome sale between nine and one today. Many of the scrapbook products were marked 25% off and in conjunction with the discount, one could use a 20% off coupon. These stamps were marked $6.99, but were also on sale for 25% off. Combine that with the coupon discount of 20% and the stamps suddenly became a mega-bargain! Took me all of two seconds to put them in my basket..I love a good sale!

 

 

Locate a simple, ornate border stamp and use it to stamp a border across the small vanilla half circle created in the last step. Use Black dye based ink for stamping your image. 

 

 

Cut a 1.75" circle from a light turquoise print pattern paper (October Afternoon/Fly A Kit - "Sprinklers"). Adhere the circle on top the large Turquoise floral half circle from the first step as I've done above. Trim excess pattern paper from left side of half circle. 

 

 

Now it's time to combine our two circle halves on top your selected doily. Adhere the stamped vanilla half circle to the left side of the doily using wet adhesive. Adhere the turquoise half circle to the right side of the doily using foam core pop dots. The right side of the circle should raise off the doily and sit just slightly above the stamped border.

 

 

This part gets a little tricky, so pay attention :) Using either ribbon or Studio Calico's FabRips (Home Front), create a ruffle border as I've done above..the great thing about SC's FabRips is that they're self adhesive, which makes them an ideal option for creating the ever popular ruffled ribbon look! Simply fold it over a FabRip on top itself every few centimeters and trim the ends to make it look like ribbon! Super easy..you can find the FabRips at SC's website. 

After (or before) you've applied the ruffle border, trim a large pink oval label in half (October Afternoon/Thrift Shop Label Sticker) and apply it just beneath the lower right portion of border. Trim off excess oval label from circle design using scissors.

 

 

 

 

Apply a petite, multi-layered pink flower (Martha Stewart Crafts/Gerbera Daisy Stickers) to the upper right hand side of ruffled border using a foam core pop dot. This particular daisy has a thin foam adhesive on it's backside - add another pop dot on top of the pre-existing adhesive before applying it to your doily.

 

 

Add a bird (October Afternoon/Thrift Shop) or butterfly to lower left corner of doily using a pop dot or two. I recommend the bird or butterfly be neutral in color to match it's neutral background (Vanilla cardstock). Ultimately, the goal is for the right half of the doily to be brimming with color and the other half to be strictly vanilla & black (neutrals). Wouldn't this concept make for a interesting layout or mini album design? Neutral vs. Color...something to contemplate.

 

 

You know the rest...I won't repeat this last step from this point forward. I chose to use a pattern paper from October Afternoon's Thrift Shop Collection ("Needs Paint") as my background paper. The vertical striping reinforces the vertical movement of the doily's overall design.

That just about does it for doily number nine! On another note, a few of you are still waiting for a reply from me. I promise to return your email in the next couple of days...for those of you seeking doilies, I'll do my best to find some for you, whether it be online or via one of my local Michael's craft stores. I appreciate your patience! I realize that quite a number of you are still trying to find them...I'll keep you posted! :) See you Wednesday with the tenth doily update! Thanks to all whom continue to follow along! Definitely feel free to post your completed doilies if your up to it via the comments section below! I'd love to see them!

The Embellished Paper Doily :: Part Eight

 

 

 

 

It's time to take the project up a notch by bringing on board some brighter colors! It was my original plan to have a varied color palette for this project. As much as I adore the colors I've used thus far, I've been craving richer, bolder colors lately. Doily number eight is by far the most colorful of all the doilies we've created up until the point. It's also my new favorite - if you're a fan of color like myself, you're in for a big surprise today..a good sort of surprise thanks to Basic Grey & Studio Calico! I've used pattern papers from both companies on doily number eight and each one is blooming with brilliant, vibrant color! To find out more about these papers, read on...details are provided below.

 

Introducing Doily Number Eight 

 

 

Studio Calico recently forwarded me their newest collection, Documentary. From this collection, I selected a few sheets of pattern paper to use on today's doily, including "Holiday" & "Jet Set". For this first step, punch a 2" circle from green/turquoise polka-dot pattern paper (Studio Calico/Documentary - "Holiday"). Adhere the circle to your selected doily using wet adhesive. 

 

 

I can't count the number of times I've walked by these adorable Making Memories "Flea Market" clock chipboard pieces while making Target runs these last couple of months. I've been seriously tempted to pick them up numerous times, but have been cautiously waiting for the perfect moment to bring them home with me..there was always this little voice inside my head telling me that I didn't need more chipboard. My usual response was, "Well, when have I ever needed chipboard? Never..I don't buy it cause I need it, I buy it cause I want it." This seems to be the ongoing mantra I feed myself every time I'm confronted with a new decision to buy "more scrappy stuff". Yesterday, during one of my usual runs to Target, I naively fell prey to these clocks once again. This time around, after allowing my subconscious to guilt trip me for two minutes, I grabbed the clocks and bolted towards the registers. Even though the clocks aren't a necessity, they're still a great candidate for my project. Plus, for $4, you get a ton a clocks - enough to last me the rest of my scrappy life! So, here ya go..this is what you'll want..I mean "need" for this next step - Making Memories "Flea Market" chipboard and clear clock faces.

Punch a 2" inch scallop circle from dark brown cardstock using Marvy's scallop circle punch. Adhere the scallop circle to the backside of a large blue/turquoise chipboard clock. Adhere the clock creation to your doily using foam core pop dots.

 

 

 

 

Adhere a similar size transparent clock on top your chipboard clock creation using a single foam core pop dot. 

We normally don't think to adhere transparency pieces to our projects with pop dots, but doing so introduces a whole new set of possibilities. By using a pop dot, the transparency suddenly becomes a window. You can sneak items beneath it or above it! Just make sure to carefully consider the placement of your pop dot before adhering a transparency this way to your project. We'll be covering the center portion of the transparency clock, so I chose to place the pop dot directly in the center of it. 

 

 

Now we're going to move on and create a scallop circle frame for the last layer of our doily. Punch a 1" circle from a piece of "map" pattern paper (Studio Calico/Documentary - "Jet Set"). Dispose of the 1" circle. We won't be needing it. Directly over the same area where you punched the circle, do a second punch using Marvy's "scallop" extra jumbo craft punch. 

 

 

Punch another 1.5" scallop circle from a different sheet of pattern paper (My Mind's Eye/So Sophie - "Pretty Girl Persistent Bloom"). Select a style of pattern paper that partners well with both the doily design and the scallop frame we just created in the previous step. Adhere the scallop circle to the backside of the scallop frame using wet adhesive. 

 

 

Lets give the flower some pink fuzz! Apply a light coat of clear drying adhesive (Diamond Glaze) to the pink areas of the flower. Sprinkle pink flock (Martha Stewart) onto flower as I've done above. Allow the flower to sit for about five minutes and then lightly tap off the extra flock. You're flower should now look like this:

 

 

 

Insert a decorative fabric (Highly recommend fabric here!) brad through the center of the flower (K & Company/Amy Butler?). Bend back prongs until prongs are completely flat (Important!!). 

 

 

Adhere the scallop flower to your doily using multiple large size glue dots. Use at least three or four glue dots for adhering this piece in place. 

 

 

And finally, select a coordinating pattern paper to sit beneath your doily creation (Basic Grey/Nook & Pantry - "Tea Cakes") and trim to size. 

Because we're halfway to completing this gigantic project, I took out my camera this afternoon and took a couple extra photos of the project-in-progress. I'm really pleased with how well this project has come together these last few weeks..can you believe it?! Already it's been a couple of weeks..well, we still have another two to go, so keep visiting this place for further tutorial updates - the next one will be this upcoming Monday! I'm taking the weekend off on behalf of Memorial Day (think'en about my sweet Eric quite a bit this weekend - lovingly placed a bouquet of flowers on his grave yesterday along with a few polished stones (stones were a symbol of love to us and we often exchanged them throughout our relationship)...thanks everyone!