Harbingers of Spring

The Sweet Sentiments Paper Pad by Graphic 45 has some great Valentine and Easter/Spring designs.  As soon as I saw it, I just knew I had the perfect use for the images in the pad.  I had this pair of crib shoes that I picked up several years ago at a thrift store.

I photographed the unaltered shoe on pieces of the beautiful G45 paper pad to show you my inspiration for my colors and embellishments.  

Above is a close-up of embellishments I added to images from the paper pad.  The 2-ply butterflies were cut with a die from the set of Spellbinders Circle Butterflies.  The tiny purple flowers were cut from vellum with a Punch Bunch flower punch.  To add dimension I cupped the flowers by using an embossing stylus and a mousepad.  I added centers to the flowers with a metallic gold gel pen.  The large pink flower was punched and formed in the same way.  A bit of rose colored organza ribbon was also added to her hat.  These G45 elements were all fussy cut with my go-to favorite Cutter Bee Scissors.  All the edges of these pieces were distressed with an Inkssentials Blending Foam Replacement Pad and Tim Holtz Distress Ink---Old Paper.  The 3 images on the slipper on the right were matted on coral paper to tie in with the color of the girl's dress in the slipper on the left and also with the large paper butterflies.

The ivory colored flower sprigs that form the background and act as anchors for the G45 elements are from the Botanica Collection by Petaloo.  I attached the G45 elements to the sprigs with Mini-Glue Dots.  The paper butterflies are from the Petaloo Printed Darjeeling series in a color called "paprika."  They were also attached with the Glue Dots.  The flowers nestled inside the slippers are a mixture of floral bridal embellishments and paper roses from my stash.

It has been fun being guest eP designer for the month of February.  As the month of February ends, I hope that just like the robin, my project this week is a Harbinger of Spring!

Thanks for stopping by, Paulette Akagi

Graphic 45 - Sweet Sentiments 8x8 Paper Pad	Petaloo - Botanica Collection - Ivory	Petaloo - Printed Darjeeling - Wild Butterflies Paprika	Distress Ink Pad - Old Paper
Cutter Bee Scissors	Inkssentials - Blending Foam Replacement Pads	Glue Dots� Mini Clear 3/16" 300 pc Box

The Story of Millie and Molly's Trip to Paris

It's Paulette here today with my creations for Week Three as Guest Designer.  I've written a short scenario to accompany my projects today.

  The story begins in 1922 when our two fashionistas, Molly and Millie, see this poster in their local hat shop.

The ladies are always fashion trendsetters and decide to attend the Spring Millinery Show in Paris on February 15, 1923.  They buy two tickets for the fashion show.  For all the shopping they intend to do, the ladies are taking a BIG purse full of money.  This little altered purse I created memorializes their epic shopping adventure.

And now to explain my creative process:  The project was inspired by a Graphic 45 8x8 paper pad called "Couture" and by this mini purse I picked up for $1 at a local thrift store.  

I fussy cut all the ladies, the tickets and sentiments from the G45 paper with my Cutter Bee scissors and darkened the edges with a black Pitt pen.  The two fans were cut from the G45 paper with a Die-namics rosette die.  Behind the three ladies on the right is a blue scalloped oval cut from the G45 paper pack with a Spellbinders die.  Before the paper was released from the die, I darkened the edges on the inner rim of the die with Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers Distress Ink using an Inkssentials Foam Replacement Pad.  The black satin bow with rhinestone button is a repurposed shoe bow.  The Eiffel Tower is a repurposed earring.  Molly, fashionista on the left, is wearing gold rhinestone earrings.  The other three embellishments are by Recollections.  

The poster I created is actually an ATC for a Pick-a-Theme Swap over on Splitcoaststampers.  My swapmate requested Vintage Hats as her theme.  This ATC also uses papers from the beautiful "Couture" paper pad.  Background paper is a red dotted swiss by Bazzill.  The ticket was fussy cut and its edges were darkened with a black Pitt pen.  I fashioned the flower on the hat with a Punch Bunch hydrangea flower punch.  I added dimension using a mousepad and an embossing stylus.  The center is a gold rhinestone star.  Red rhinestones were added to the hat, dress, and used as earrings.  Tiny gold corner stickers and a strip of red metal trim resembling the metal fabric mesh used in Whiting and Davis purses complete the design.

Thanks for stopping by...Paulette

Graphic 45 - Couture 8x8 Paper Pad	Distress Ink Pad - Peacock Feathers	Zip Dry	BEACON: 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue
Inkssentials - Blending Foam Replacement Pads	Cutter Bee Scissors

Valentine Memory Box---"Smitten"

It's Paulette, eP's guest design team member for February, back with another project.  This week I chose to embellish a memory box.  I am a Valentine fanatic and decided to decorate a box to store all my treasured Valentines.

I found this box on sale at  a local craft store for $1.66.  The box has a white cover and is printed with pink doilies and the hanging red foil hearts motif.  The sides are covered in a red paper and continue the hanging hearts motif.  To complement this pre-printed design I chose a 6x6" paper pad by Authentique called "Smitten."  I used this pad for the doll's dress, the Valentine themed playing cards and the pink rose sticker.

I chose a red lace trim and white ribbon with red hearts as a strip across the bottom to anchor my design. I used one of Julie Nutting's doll stamps by Prima.  Some of the dolls have girl's names, this one is just called the Peasant Doll.  Since she's my Valentine doll, I'm going to name her Philomena---meaning "powerful love." Her dress and headband were paper-pieced with a paper from the "Smitten" paper pack.  I used some narrow Scor-Tape to add some lace trim to the neckline, sleeves and hem of the dress.  The double-stick tape makes gathering the lace and attaching it to the paper dress a cinch.  In her video Julie suggests always distressing the edges of the doll with ink.  I used an Inkssentials Foam Replacement pad and Old Paper TH Distress Ink on the edges.  I also used a black Pitt pen to outline the cut edges of the doll and dress.  I cut some tiny white silk flowers off the edges of some ribbon to adorn Philomena's hair and dress.  A red metallic gel pen was used to color the tiny flower centers.

Two metallic paper doilies---one red, one silver---form the base of the collage on the right side of the box cover. I cut five tiny Valentine themed playing cards cut from the "Smitten" paper and arranged them on top of the doilies.  Paper flowers with pearl or red rhinestone centers were used in the collage.  The "Smitten" pack also contains an assortment of stickers.  I used the pink rose scalloped sticker after first distressing the edges with TH Barn Door Red Distress Ink.

Here's a side view of my memory box:

Thanks for checking out my blog post.  Hope your mailbox will be filled with some lovely cards on Valentine's Day.................................................Paulette

Here are the links to the eP store for some of the products used above:

Zip Dry	Prima - Peasant Doll Mixed Media Stamp	Authentique - Smitten 6x6" Paper Pad	Distress Ink Pad - Barn Door
Distress Ink Pad - Old Paper	Inkssentials - Blending Foam Replacement Pads	Cutter Bee Scissors	Scor Tape -1/8"wide x 27 yds long (double sided)
Sakura Quickie Glue

Valentine's Day Wall Decor

Welcome to my first post as February's Guest Design Team Member for eclectic Paperie.  I'm Paulette Akagi and am so honored to be able to share my creations here on the eclectic Paperie blog.  Thank you Bonnie and Kim for providing me with this opportunity.

My project began with a metal heart that I purchased in a gift shop in Sheridan, Wyoming, many years ago.  The heart already had somewhat of a distressed appearance---I loved the rusty old key hanging from the wire.  The antique handkerchief came from my mom...she was a waitress and this was probably one of those decorative hankies that waitresses back in the 50's wore in their blouse pockets.  The "LOVE" hanging from the key is a wooden laser cut icon from Prima.  I painted it with a gold leaf Krylon pen and then distressed it with Brushed Corduroy TH Distress Ink.  It hangs from a piece of gold cording.

Above is a close-up of the Valentine images I used.  They are from the Graphic 45 Sweet Sentiments 8x8 Paper Pad.  After cutting out the images I distressed the edges with Victorian Velvet TH Distress Ink with an Inkssentials Blending Foam Replacement Pad.  The small images on the left are edged with a gold Krylon pen.  The large image was matted on a dark pink and then on a lighter pink mat that was cut with a scalloped die by Nellie Snellen ( it's a square die but I cut it twice and created a rectangle).

The flowers on the bottom border of this main image are a strip of silk embroidery trim from my stash.  The pink roses and tiny white flowers on the main image were fashioned with punches from the Punch Bunch---after punching I formed the flowers on a mousepad with an embossing stylus.  Centers of the flowers are Stickles.  The tiny butterfly was made from two of the waste butterflies created when cutting out the large circle die of Spellbinders Butterflies Circles die set.  It also has Stickles as embellishment.  To add a bit of a background and fill in the heart pocket, I added some squares of glittered tulle ribbon.  White, cream and several shades of pink paper roses complete the design.

Other items that you can find in the eclectic Paperie store that I used to create my project are my favorite scissors by Cutter Bee, Zip-Dry paper glue, Scotch Foam Mounting Tape (pops up and adds dimension to some of the paper images), Glue Dots Mini Clear to adhere the hankie and the large image to the metal heart.  The Sakura Quikie Glue Pen is also great for teeny tiny flowers and the butterfly.

Thanks for stopping by and come back next week to see my next project.
Paulette

Graphic 45 - Sweet Sentiments 8x8 Paper Pad	Prima - Laser Wood Cut Icons - Words	Distress Ink Pad - Victorian Velvet	Distress Ink Pad - Brushed Corduroy
Cutter Bee Scissors	Scotch Foam Mounting Tape	Sakura Quickie Glue	Glue Dots� Mini Clear 3/16" 300 pc Box
Zip Dry