French Ephemera Swap Page

I recently participated in a French Ephemera Swap on my Marie Antoinette Mail Art group.  I mailed kits of material, like ribbon roses, lace, fabric, images and more to two different partners (mine were Rhonda and Cathy.)  Then they each mailed me a kit also.

Then we were supposed to use our kits to create a Marie book.  It's been fun opening and reopening my boxes and reveling in the pretties, but I finally sat down and did my first page.  I'm sure the book in it's entirety would have a much more stunning effect, but I could not wait to share this.  :0)

Here is the front: 

I couldn't decide between a paper and chipboard or soft textile pages.  I was dying to try a fabric book, but Rhonda had sent me loads of beautiful paper ephemera.  Eventually I decided to go for it with a mixture of both.  The grey and cream fabric from Rhonda made for a perfect start.

I glued both this paper gardenia (from Cathy) and the paper image of Marie right down to my fabric with Beacon's 3 in1 glue.  I was a bit nervous about possibly destroying the fabric, but it worked perfectly.

A pretty ribbon rose and buttons from Rhonda gave my page the perfect touch.

A peek at the cool script fabric underneath the lace.

In order to make the quilting work I had to do the back side at the same time as the front.  So here is what I came up with: 

I added the pink background fabric, but everything else was from my two partners.

Rhonda sent the rose fabric (cut all cute with pinking shears) and the image, and Cathy sent the cool organza bag which I made into a see-through pocket.

  

Boy, I sure had fun with this.  The next page I do will be a paper chipboard page.  Stay tuned.  :)

July Mystic Kit

Look at what I got to pick up yesterday!!  My July kit for Mystic Paper is a sheet of the beautiful Cavalini paper.  I got the Vintage Poster print, and ohmygoodness the colors are so RICH!!

Best of all we get free reign on the type of project!  Right now I have the huge sheet of paper hanging on my kitchen cabinets.  I am absorbing its beauty before I dive into my project.  Look at these close ups, GorGeouS!

Stop by Sheri and Jenna's blogs to see the cool Cavalini papers they got for their kits this month.  And stay tuned for my Cavalini

Our Family of 4 ~ the SHOW

I finally got a chance to put this slideshow together for you on my Paper Bag Album.  It's much better in person, if you want to go see it at Mystic Paper.  They have a ton of new goodies in, so ya just might need to visit anyhow.

Hope you enjoyed it.  Happy Friday to all, and to all a good weekend.

A little freshening up

I just updated my blog background.  Whadaya think?  I used my own images and a mixture of Paint.net and Gimp modifications.  Finally, I think I like it.  And, it looks right on my laptop screen.  I think it will be a bit big on my pc, but oh well.  Hope you enjoy the pretty.

Next task,  a new header.

Paper Bag Album

Hello world!  Are you enjoying today?  I hope so!  This moment right now is wonderful for me.  :)  The girls and I are munching on some delicious BBQ chips and sipping some sweet OJ.  They are completely content and therefore, so am I.  Food seems to do the trick for all of us!  Ha!

I wanted to share a sneak peek of the paper bag album that I did for Mystic Paper this month.  Remember, I got the totally yummy Melissa Frances papers, a couple trims, and some cool chipboard shapes?  This project turned out to be a bit massive, so I will get all the pictures together in a slide show for you soon.

I'm also going to do a tutorial on how to create this Gate Folded paper bag album with the paper connectors, so look for that also.  Be sure to hop over and check out Sheri and Jenna's blogs to see their cool paper bag albums which they will post soon.

Hee hee, my older daughter just took a drink of her juice and said, "Mmmm, Rrrrrum punch!"  hahahaha  Gotta love Mary Poppins.  :)

Sigh, I just saw an Angel

I'm working on photos for my paper bag album for Mystic Paper and playing around with Paint.NET

I just had to share this one of my girl.

She is such a happy little girl, but sometimes she looks melancholy in her photos.  The effect seems modelesque to me, sort of "lost in thought."

Hope you enjoy!

Red, White and Bliss

I picked up my June kit for the Mystic Paper design team on Friday.  It was filled with patriotic themed Melissa Frances paper, a couple pretty trims, and some cool chipboard to alter.  Our project assignment this month. . . a paper bag album.

I was so thrilled with the yummy Melissa Frances paper, I started right away.  Then I remembered, "Oh yeah, I need to take a photo of my kit."  That's why this one is such a close up, most of the papers are cut into already.

Jump over to Sheri and Jenna's blogs to see the fun kits they got to create their paper bag albums.