Marie Antoinette Ornament Swap

I was recently accepted into an online group of crafters called the "Marie Antoinette Mail Art Group." I saw a beautiful apron on a blog of a member who linked to the group. Oh how I have been obsessed with Marie as of late (Thanks Alex! and Mystic Paper [Mystic has this gorgeous Marie Christmas Tree]), so I hopped on over and submitted my request to join.

And here we are. These are the first lovlies I have ever created using a Marie Antoinette theme. Be assured there are many more to come. Each base is different, but I tried to stick to the same materials.

First I painted the ornaments with gold acryllic paint. I have fallen in love with gold in my Obsession. I love it with the blue and pink. Next I traced the ornament shape, cut out Marie theme papers (K&Co and 7Gypsies), and glued them into place. I left one section uncovered, plain gold paint.

Then I punched out and attached my vintage dictionary page (yardsales are wonderful for these!!) After that I glimmer misted the entire ornament. Even over the paint, where some areas turned almost crackley. Don't freak (like I did) when the paper sections wrinkle, because (I swear) if you just leave them alone they eventually flatten.

I printed a Marie image on photo paper and punched it with a scalloped square. Glossy Accents (my favorite!) was used to attach pretty much everything on these. I really wanted it to stay together for my swap gals. I Glossied on the lace, then the sequin strand over that.

My favorite part of making these was pulling out my tackle box full of beads for the extra glitz. I used a pearl, a real chandelier crystal, a Swarovski crystal, and a sunburst sequin from a Making Memories Vintage Finds set all stacked up on a decorative pin. Which I then poked into the paper mache.

I also printed a few more MarieEsque images on photo paper. For the piece of her signature and the chandelier, I attached them to gold or blue cardstock, inked and even stamped (a Christmas Tree or Snowflake) on the back. Then I cut out and attached her monogram "MA," with an exacto (while I was watching So You Think You Can Dance, I had to keep rewinding, gotta love DVR.)

For the second set of ornaments, I decided to use something different than the paper mache. I found chipboard shapes that I liked an had two of the same shape. I glued them together for sturdiness, and used the same steps as above, minus the papering and Glimmer Misting.

Add a little lace, a lotta bling (rhinestones, glittered chipboard, Stickles, Mica Flakes) and Voila! An ornament fit for a queen.