Hello Artists!

For this week’s Lovebug Creations project, I have a Spring banner to share with you. I actually made it a couple weeks back for the Blog Hop, but as it happens, I had a lil snafu during my photo shoot (yes, another backyard photo shoot issue. Imagine!) My daughter, Savannah, helped me set up the backyard with some fun party decorations and we got the table settings laid out. I was going for one of those beautiful pictures like you see on Pinterest. It turned into a total Pinterest FAIL!  The moment we got all of the decorations set up, the wind started gusting and blowing everything around. Then, really huge drops of rain started falling all over my paper projects and started soaking all of the decorations. So, we threw everything in a box and ran inside. Literally 2 minutes later the rain stopped and the sun came out. Score 1 for Mother Nature!

So, today I tried again and at least I got a picture of the banner without it twisting and turning all over the place.  You can see the banner and tablecloth getting all crazy here in this picture from a couple weeks ago.

The way our house and the wall are situated, it creates a wind tunnel through our backyard!

Anyways, let’s talk about crafting and we’ll go through each tag one by one.  This Spring Banner project was just the beginning of my recent infatuation with vellum. I ran the vellum through my Sizzix Big Shot Pro die cutter with my favorite die to create a nice sheer separation for my letters from the background. The letters were cut using my Cricut.

Don’t you just love velvet leaves?  I found them and the mushrooms at Gilding the Lily in Fullerton and it’s one of my favorite shops to find unique millinery, vintage photos, feathers, beads, pearls, crystals and jewelry findings. The beautiful ribbon in all photos is  “Pink Clouds” from Lovebug Creations. The colors that I received ranged from a sweet, light pink to a deep coral and were so perfect for this garden inspired banner. I just love the way these ribbons curl and ruffle!  I used my white pen to outline the blue letters and die cut pieces to give them an artistic touch.

The cherubs head is from my stash, it’s probably 20 years old. I love painting objects to look like moss-covered garden statuary. For this panel, I cut out vellum flowers with my Sizzix Big Shot Pro die cutter and colored the back of them with my copic markers. This gives them a nice color without being too strong and overwhelming the rest of the piece.

The buckle on the P is made from a chipboard piece from the dollar (and fifty cent!) section at Michaels and I painted it and then glued vintage rhinestones to it.

For this panel, I used a wonderful paper flower technique that I learned from Arlene Baker at a class at French General during Kaari Meng’s Art of Craft event in January. To learn this technique, you’ll have to take one of Arlene’s classes. I never give away other peoples secrets!  Can you believe the result of Arlene’s technique? I love how the paper flower wrinkled up just like a real rose.

Paper rosettes are used in a lot of my projects because they look so whimsical and add great depth.

To create a waxy look on silk flowers (like the one on the bottom, second from the left) I stamp them with clear embossing ink and then sprinkle with clear embossing powder. Using your heat gun, move it around and slowly melt the embossing powder. Be careful not to burn your flower!

Detail of another cherub I painted to look like moss-covered garden statuary.

This panel has a piece of vintage wallpaper at the top that I cut with one of my punches. The punched circles at the bottom right are accented with clear glitter.

I featured these vintage-style paper straws in a past blog post, but they were part of this project so I wanted to share them with you again.

I used my Cricut to cut out LOTS of butterflies in different sizes and shades of tangerine-colored paper to adorn the Japanese paper lantern. I love the ombre effect and I’m going to file this idea away and use for decorations in the future.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Let me know what you think of the banner in the comments. I read all of them and appreciate each and every one!

And, don’t forget to sign up to receive this blog in your email!  I’ll be having another giveaway soon and you don’t want to miss it!

xo,

Christine Barker