Botanical Tea Hanging

This little project for Graphic 45 was so fun and easy to put together.  I have a few of my trade secrets revealed in this post too!  The lovely Botanical Tea paper line made for a perfect pairing on this whimsical hanging that is now adorning one of my antique floor lamps. 

Supplies: 

Botanical Tea 6x6 Patterns and Solids

Botanical Tea Stickers

Botanical Tea Chipboard 1

Botanical Tea Chipboard 2

Ornate Metal Keyholes

Ornate Metal Key

Shabby Chic Ornate Metal Brads

Metal Butterflies

May Arts Ribbon

White Gilders Paste

White Eyelets

Stickels

 

 

 

In order to make my chipboard pieces more substantial I added eyelets and covered the edges in white gilders paste.  While you cannot see it in this shot, I also covered the backs of the chipboard with coordinating paper, in case they we seen.  

 

 



 

 

Sometimes it is a challenge to cut your paper into an odd shape.  I often find that my edges are just a little bit wonky, so I have to disguise it.  In this Botanical Tea Hanging, I did just that.  The oval of paper I used to back my hummingbird sticker was not cut perfectly people, but thanks to my clever use of stickels you can hardly tell.  I simply covered my errors up with this handy glitter glue.  

 



 

 

Another trick I used on this project was the use of gilders paste to make my metals with different finishes look cohesive.  You would never know that they don’t match with my sneaky cover up.  What, no gilders paste in your stash….try acrylic paint, which works too! 

Cheers,

Rhea

 

 

Sweet Sentiments Valentine Wreath

This project started out with a wooden wreath base I picked up at a local garage sale. I am always on the hunt for things with flat surfaces which can be easily altered or adorned with paper.   With the heart motif, it was destined to be altered with Graphic 45's Sweet Sentiments just in time for Valentines Day.  

Sweet Sentiments Heart Wreath

Sweet Sentiments 12x12 paper

May Arts Ribbon

Petaloo Flowers

Distress Ink and Stain in Tea Dye

Adhesive

Wooden Heart Wreath Base

Gesso

To create a nice base I painted on a layer of gesso and once it was dry, I aged it with Distress Stain in Tea Dye.  The paper was added in layers that were stitched together on a sewing machine.  I am not a seamstress by any means, but I do like to add thread as a design element from time to time. 

In order to make the edges of my central image disappear, I fussy cut small elements and camoflagued the edge.  This little trick makes such a huge difference.

Another trick used in this project was to age my ribbons from May Arts.  The ribbon was pink and white to start out.  I thought it was a bit too stark, so I simply wet the ribbon and then added some distress stain.  I love how the aged look really pulls it all together! 

So the next time your shopping around a garage sale or estate sale, be sure to keep your mind open to finding fun things to alter. 

Cheers, 

Rhea

Bohemian Bazaar Tag

The rich color palate of the new Bohemian Bazaar collection from Graphic 45 is just really rich and lovely.  We were challenged to make an upside down tag to show off this new paper.

Below you can see a little bit of fussy cutting detail I added to this project.  I popped up the image with glue dots.

The bottom has a great "tail" if you will.  I used a bunch of May Arts ribbons along with some ornate keys and chipboard pieces to add lots of texture and detail.

At the top of my tag I used a trim provided by Petaloo and layered it with some of the stickers.  I absolutely adore the border stickers that Graphic 45 makes.

The chipboard pieces that they have in the line make for great embellishments too.  In order to give everything a little bit of age, I used distress stain in shabby shutters on the edges of everything.

Last, here is  a close up of the fabulous stamped metal brads.  These are so fun to work with.  

Cheers, 

Rhea