A Touch of Grace

       I’m excited to share with you today that my fabulously fun friend, Jenny Gropp, from  One Krafty Cat has invited me to be the guest designer for the challenge today over at  Our Creative Corner.   I’m absolutely thrilled and honored to be playing along with the very talented designers of Our Creative Corner.

The details for the challenge are:

      Triple Play:   Less is not always More! You must pick at least three types of embellishments to use on your card or project. These are your choices: Brads, Eyelets, Bling, Ribbon, Buttons, Thread/Floss, Beads, Charms, Rub Ons, Liquid Applique, Crystal Lacquer  (items highlighted in pink are the elements I used in my design).

       I agree with Jenny, less is not always more.  Those of you who are familiar with my blog know that I typically design more is more designs so this challenge is right up my alley.

       A little about the design:  I recently came across a picture of an egg that was beautifully decorated by an artist with paper tole.  I’ve seen paper tole in books, but have never attempted it and decided to give it a try for the challenge.  I’m sure I’ve made some mistakes with this technique, but overall I’m very happy with my first attempt.  I’m thoroughly hooked on this form of art and hope to learn more!  A drawing was provided by the artist for the design that was on the egg.  I transferred it onto Bristol paper and painted it with acrylic paints.  Once it was dry I made four photocopies on white cardstock using a color printer.  I cut out the flowers only from one of the photocopies and adhered them flat onto the cardstock.  I then painted in the foliage around the flowers directly onto the embossed cardstock.  Using a craft knife, I cut the petals and stems from the copies, toled the paper, and adhered the pieces down using thick crafters’ glue.  I continued to do this for three layers.  The petals were painted with Mod Podge.  I punched several leaves with a Martha Stewart punch and cut small tendrils of green paper.  I wrapped the tendrils around a paintbrush to curl them.  I adhered bits and pieces of the leaves down randomly creating the foliage and painted them with Mod Podge.  Once the Mod Podge was dry, I painted the entire design with crystal lacquer, giving it an enameled lustre.  I finished the floral arrangement by painting gold paint around the petals, stems, leaves, and green tendrils. Once that portion of the design was complete, I went to work on the butterfly.  I stamped and embossed it onto cardstock using gold embossing powder.  I painted the butterfly using the same acrylics that I used in the painting.  I used the same technique to tole the butterfly as I did with the flowers. 

      You can see touches of pink and lavender in the petals in this picture.  I’m including several close up photographs at different angles to show you the detail and dimension of the design.  I love the little flower buds.  Each flower and bud is four layers.  Looking carefully you can see the tiny stems, they are two paper layers thick.

       In this photograph you can see the dimension of the layers of the buds, stems, and the center flowers.  A closer view of the background painting is shown in this photo as well.  I used a liner brush to paint in small stems and leaves.  The same liner brush was used to paint the gold on the edges of the flowers, leaves, stems, tendrils, and the butterfly.   

       I had to squeeze some ribbon in here somewhere .   .   . LOL .   .   . what are flowers without the stems being tied with beautiful white silk ribbon to hold them together!

      This photograph shows off the Swarovski crystals.  They sparkle like diamonds in real life.  Off white, ballet pink, peony, and lavender acrylics were used to paint the flowers and buds. I painted the flowers Off White and then glazed the petals with pink and lavender hues.  You can see hints of the colors in the petals.

      A close up shot of the bejeweled butterfly, her abdomen consists of six 2mm green Swarovski crystals, her wings and antennae are loaded with 1.5mm crystals.

      I’m giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to my store, A Touch of Grace - Paper Boutique to one lucky winner.  To enter all you have to do is play along with the OCC challenge, follow the rules provided above, post your card on your blog or your gallery at Splitcoaststampers using the keyword OCCC.  Leave a comment on the OCC blog linking your design so they can check it out.  The drawing is random, the winner will be announced next Saturday on the OCC blog.  Be sure to check back there next Friday to see if you’ve won.  

      If you’re looking for inspiration for the challenge, be sure to check out the fabulous designs of the OCC Ladies on their blogs - Jenny Gropp, Silke Ledlow, Cindy Haffner (my DDA sister, big hugs Girl!), Jennifer Meyer, Vicki Garrett, Loretta Lock, Joycelyn Turner, and Frances Byrne.

      Shopping info:   A Touch of Grace - Paper Boutique -  Embossing Paper:  Carnation White, Light Pink, Olive Green, Hunter Green, Bristol paper,  light box, 18K Gold Krylon pen, PergaKit 3D Adhesive, acrylic paints,  Removable Tape, Zip Dry adhesive, parchment paper, Perga Soft, craft knife, stylus/embosser, Joy! Foam Pads, Joy Pearls, Martha Stewart leaf punch, paint brushes, Mod Podge, thick crafters’ glue, tweezers, Swarovski crystals, gold paint, Ranger gold embossing powder, heating tool, Encore gold ink, color printer, computer, white card stock, crystal lacquer

      Parked on Rubber:  butterfly stamp

      Stamp Simply Ribbon Store - Bow Easy, white silk ribbon

      Thank you for stopping by, I truly appreciate your visit!