Butterfly Giveaway Pictures and A Story

Hello Again!

I have been building up the courage to share this piece of art with each of you.  Yes, I have been afraid to share it with anyone because it is very different from anything I have ever done before, and I am a chicken!

For my One World One Heart giveaway, I knew that I wanted to make a Quilled Butterfly! I wasn't sure what it would look like, but I knew that once I started creating it that the butterfly would find it's way out of the papers I was using and emerge as it was intended... and I was right.  Over the course of many hours and several days, she took shape.  I am so proud of the way she turned out.  I tried to get a close up of her so that you would be able to see all the little details.  I did not start with a pattern, just strips of paper.  The first thing that I did was create the general shape of the wings.  I started with a loose shape in the black quilling paper, I used a nice 1/4 inch wide paper for this project.  I wanted the design to be open, so I just made scrolls and various strips and colors of paper along the way.  I wanted to point out the special little hearts... you will see many heart shapes in the wings.  I did this to show the love that was put into this creation.

I definitely wanted her to sparkle, so I used glitter paper as the backing.  I lightly traced the wing that I had created on the glitter paper and cut it out then glued the wing to the paper.  You can see the sparkle/glitter in the close up. I also added some jewels to the project as well to make her happy and sparkly.

I don't know how many times I changed my mind about what I was going to place her in.  I started out thinking a 4x6 frame, but in the end my butterfly emerged a bit too large for such a small frame.  I have had a growing desire to paint and that desire pushed its way through and I ended up creating a mixed-media painting... Please be kind, this is my first true venture in anything outside of ATCs with painting... This is 8x10 canvas board - Yikes!!!

I hand cut flower petals and leaves to make one large echinacea flower and then you will see that I hand painted others directly on the canvas.  I painted the petals a beautiful "sugar plum" pink color (this is a yummy color and I know that I will use it again).  I covered the entire (painted) canvas board with Alene's Paper Glaze, I know, I LOVE this stuff!!! I use it a lot and I think I am going to be using so much more of it!!! I wish it weren't so expensive... so maybe I'll have to curtail my addiction a bit - lol.....  I don't think you can really see from the picture the beautiful shine on the flowers and background... but believe me it is there.

I love quotes, and selected a quote from Goethe - "Remember to live" that I had from a scrapbook set that I received as a gift many years ago (sorry, don't know what it was anylonger).... And that ultimately is what this butterfly and flower represent... the carefree butterfly flittering about is just enjoying the day... I find that I think I personally need to do more of this and wanted to send some of that free spirit to the winner of my giveaway.

Amy, I hope that you enjoy this gift and that she brings you joy and a bit of inspiration!

Update: I have linked this to the following linky parties / challenges:

Aly's Sunday Challenge

I

Hugs,
Antonella :-)

My Artful Bag and Other Stuff

Hello Everyone...  I have been having lots of fun traveling the world on the wings of OWOH.  If you are looking for my One World One Heart post and a chance to win my giveway, please click here.

Did  you see that purse? I was inspired by the challenge going on at "Frosted Petunia's Artful Bag Challenge" looks like there will be a different challenge each month, so you still have time to give this a try.  The challenge this month is to make a purse out of something else - for this challenge it needed to function like a real purse... Can you guess what I made mine out of? I made my purse out of an Orzo Pasta box - really, I did... That is really neat isn't it? I chose it because I wanted something with a window in it. :-)  I have really enjoyed this challenge.  Note: I have updated the picture to show the bling I added before I presented the gift.

I used paper from a DCWV Mini Stack and went with a primarily yellow and pink theme.  This is my stepdaughter's birthday card this year, so that is the reason for the color selection.  The flowers are punched out of a book that had fallen apart after getting wet - I know, punching a book - shivers, but I have to say that I really like the way they came out.

The side view shows how this is a "working purse" and the ribbon I used so that you can carry it with you :-)  If you look again at the front, you will see a bit of a scallop flap, I used my glue bottle to trace circles on the back of the paper and then cut around them to create the scallop.  For a more finished look, I used a piece of card stock to line the inside of the purse and came only around the back and to the flap.  I then cut, leaving a little border so that it peeks through the front.  Not sure if you can see that in this picture.  I also attached a magnet to keep it closed... I should have used a stronger magnet, this is a light weight magnet, and I wasn't thrilled with it.

In the next few photos you get to see the surprise inside... This is what I placed inside the purse, these are little tags that we will each write our birthday wishes to her on.  I am very proud, the artwork that is on the back of them is my son's - didn't he do a FANTASTIC job!!!!  I love his art teacher, he is my little artist and made these when he was 7 and 8 years old.

For the flowers... I tried following the tutorial I found here for these flowers by Cristena Bagne, but I could not get the folds to work the way she did (update: this is the link to the video tutorial) - I probably have a different number of scallops than she has or just can't fold (both are equally possible)... so I did the next best thing, I figured out how to do it another way...

I made my flowers by first punching a scallop out of paper and then inking it - I chose a pink in keeping with my color scheme.  I then folded my scallop in half and then in half again so I could find the center.  I then cut a slit along one of the folds where the scallop was not cut in half.  This is where you will begin the folding process. Fold each scallop in an accordion fashion until you get to the end.  You will need to make 2 of these for each layer of your flower.  I only used 2 layers and added a button for my center.  And yes, I used 2 punches so that each layer was a little smaller than the previous layer.  I only have 2 scallop circle punches so that is why I used 2 layers.  I will post about how I made them with pictures in another post...

Enjoy! Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

Angel Wings Card

Yeah! Here is one of the cards that I've created recently. I must admit that this was fun because I have never made a card like this before.  It is free standing with a circle window, peeking from the window is an angel medallion. 

• I cut 2 pieces of cardstock 6 x 5 inches (DCWV the Street Lace Stack)
• I scored each piece at 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch on each of the short sides
• Since this paper was not double sided, I needed to line the inside of what would later become the back piece.  I used some of my paper stash and found Autumn Leaves assorted scrap pack and mounted it on the back.
• I then punched a 2 inch circle centered in the front piece.

For the angel medallion I used my angel punch (not sure what brand the punch is, it is not labeled on the punch and I don't remember).

• I punched 7 angels and scored them in the center.  I then glued them to each other, to make a half circle / fan.
• I used my Fiskars scallop punches and punched one of each size.  
• Mounted the Angels to the scallops and then centered them so that it could be seen through the window in the front.  
• It would not be complete without some "bling" so I used my glitter glue for some sparkle.  I placed a dot of glue on each of the scallops.  It really changes the whole look.

 I thought that the circle window opening looked a little plain, so I carefully cut 2 circles and layered them over the hole.

I used another leftover scrap of the background paper and layered it on the front of the card.

I made a pretty bow to layer on the strip

No card is complete without a quote or sentiment, so I used a free sentiment from Rainbow Echo Designs it was Tameko's sentiments #2  "It is the little blessings that help us to see just how lovely life can be."

I again used my scallop punch to punch it out and then punched 1/16 inch circle punches in each of the scallops.  I used the scrap circle cutouts from when I was cutting for the opening.

There are a few challenges that I am entering this card into, they are:

• Sentimental Sundays ~ "Anything With Wings" (Jan 18)
• Aly's  Sunday ~ "Things With Wings" (Jan 22)
• My Time To Craft ~ "Up in The Air"
• Cupcake Craft ~ "Something New" (this is the 1st time I have attempted this type of card) (Jan 16)
• Rainbow Lady ~ "It's All New to Me" (this is the 1st time I have attempted this type of card)
• Allsorts Challenge ~ "Fancy Fold" (this new fold of the card I made)
• Our Daily Bread ~ "Something Old, Something New" (Something old - my background paper and angel punch, Something new - the card style itself and the sentiment)

Note: This is not my original card design.  I was going to include the link to the tutorial for the card and cannot find the card that inspired it.  I promise to keep looking for it and will update this post with the link. 


Enjoy! Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco

Make It Monday, Anything Goes, Remember Remember and some Blog Candy

I have decided to join a few challenges this week. I have cheated a bit and have picked a project that I did a while ago. This is something that is near and dear to my heart, it is a memorial page I made in memory of my Mom.

She was the most beautiful person, she will always be remembered as a loving, caring person. She taught us that there is always room in our heart to help someone and to love one more. Your heart continues to grow and knows no boundaries. It has been 6 years and I still miss her. With the holidays approaching, I guess I am a bit sentimental.

The poem on this page is one that I wrote myself, I am including a PDF with all the pieces if you decide you want to try this layout yourself. I primarily used Scriptina because when printed on vellum and transparencies it is barely visible. I also used Merced on the poem.

You will also note that I have a wee-bit of quilling on this layout. I was looking through the album and the quilling has weathered being in a scrapbook that is not always right side up very well which makes me happy!

I love quotes and will spend hours looking for just the right one. For the mini album, I put a photo of my mom and the following quote “Live so that people on Earth will be sorry to lose you, but the Angels will be glad to welcome you in heaven.” (sorry, I don’t remember who it is from and I didn’t find it in a quick search – if you know, let me know and I will make the update)

I have a PDF with the poem and background, click here to retrieve it.

Make It Monday – Inspiration Challenge - http://michelle-pinkpaperparadise.blogspot.com/

Anything Goes - Lexis Creations Challenge #26: http://lexiscreations.blogspot.com/2010/11/lexis-creations-challenge-26-winners-of.html

Remember Remember - Ooh La La Creations Challenge #66: http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/2010/11/challenge-66.html (I thought this was fitting, given the page I made)

I also found this fantastic new blog, and she is offering a great giveaway for her Birthday… Barbara's World og Whimcees http://whimcees.blogspot.com/

Please take the time to pop on over to these great challenges.

I hope you have enjoyed this project.

Enjoy! Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco