Harbingers of Spring

As my month as Guest Design Team Member for eclectic Paperie comes to an end, it's time to post my last project.  I was inspired by this beautiful Graphic 45 paper.  After this bitterly cold Winter, I wanted to say good-bye to the month with a promise of Spring.

The Sweet Sentiments Paper Pad by Graphic 45 has some great Valentine and Easter/Spring designs.  As soon as I saw it, I just knew I had the perfect use for the images in the pad.  I had this pair of crib shoes that I picked up several years ago at a thrift store.

I photographed the unaltered shoe on pieces of the beautiful G45 paper pad to show you my inspiration for my colors and embellishments.  To add weight to the slippers, I placed several large flat glass marbles inside each shoe.  I also added flat bottom pearls to the straps to resemble buttons. 

Above is a close-up of embellishments I added to images from the paper pad.  The 2-ply butterflies were cut with a die from the set of Spellbinders Circle Butterflies.  The tiny purple flowers were cut from vellum with a Punch Bunch flower punch.  To add dimension I cupped the flowers by using an embossing stylus and a mousepad.  I added centers to the flowers with a metallic gold gel pen.  The large pink flower was punched and formed in the same way.  A bit of rose colored organza ribbon was also added to her hat.  These G45 elements were all fussy cut with my go-to favorite Cutter Bee Scissors.  All the edges of these pieces were distressed with an Inkssentials Blending Foam Replacement Pad and Tim Holtz Distress Ink---Old Paper.  The 3 images on the slipper on the right were matted on coral paper to tie in with the color of the girl's dress in the slipper on the left and also with the large paper butterflies.

The ivory colored flower sprigs that form the background and acts as anchors for the G45 elements are from the Botanica Collection by Petaloo.  I attached the G45 elements to the sprigs with Mini-Glue Dots.  The paper butterflies are from the Petaloo Printed Darjeeling series in a color called "paprika."  They were also attached with the Glue Dots.  The flowers nestled inside the slippers are a mixture of floral bridal embellishments and paper roses from my stash.

It has been fun being guest eP designer for the month of February.  As the month of February ends, I hope that just like the robin, my project this week is a Harbinger of Spring!

Thanks for stopping by, Paulette Akagi

Graphic 45 - Sweet Sentiments 8x8 Paper Pad	Petaloo - Botanica Collection - Ivory	Petaloo - Printed Darjeeling - Wild Butterflies Paprika	Distress Ink Pad - Old Paper
Cutter Bee Scissors	Inkssentials - Blending Foam Replacement Pads	Glue Dots� Mini Clear 3/16" 300 pc Box