Encourage Your Hopes

Now that the Christmas presents have all been delivered, I can share them on my blog! *smile* Handmade crafts are simply the best gift to give and receive (at leasts for us crafty types!) and I had the greatest time creating presents this year. Since I work in a scrapbook store, I simply had to create my own gifts 'cause it just wouldn't be right to give other crafters something from a store!

Today's project was created for one of the other instructors at our store, who is one of the most talented paper crafting ladies I know as well as being a very skilled clothing designer so I wanted to give her something that married her love of paper crafts and clothing. This is what I came up with! I was actually inspired by a project found on Splitcoast that was created by Janelle Stollfus. I loved the elements on her page and followed a similar layout. To begin, I used this great pattern kraft paper from Tim Holtz. The paper is already embossed so once I applied ink over the entire page, the detailed lines appeared. I then aged the paper by using water and a variety of inks. I then added the embossed (and distressed) kraft cardstock. These pieces were created by using embossing folders. Next came those big 'ol flowers, which are from Petaloo. I toyed with creating my own flowers but these were so pretty that I opted to use these instead (and they were the perfect color!) I added a sentiment, stamped on a mailing tag (sentiment from Tim), rhinestones, buttons, and a few snippets of ribbon. It's those extra embellies that make all the difference! Oh, I did make the tiny rosette, using a die from The Cat's Pajamas.

Hope you enjoyed today's project...stay tuned for more of my handmade holiday creations!! (And the Sweet 'n Sassy release is coming up on January 5....Yippee!!)