This was hard.....

This had to be one of the hardest projects I've done!

Why?, you ask, well let me start

by saying, the actual concept was super easy,

it was the challenge that Marie from my LSS

Paper Craft Cafe gave me.  Marie handed me

a Kaisercraft 9 Frame Photo Display &

Kaisercraft Homemade Collection paper. 

And asked me to design this for her store.

The reason I struggled with this project was

because of the paper.  It is not my style, It was not

something that I would have chosen.  Poor Marie,

this project took me forever!  But after many hours,

looking, thinking and rearranging and detailing,

this is what I came up with!  I tried to do little

things that would put a bit of my style on it without

taking away from the "homey" feeling of the paper.

I started by painting the frame black, then

I put a coat of brown over top.  When it dried I sanded it a

bit to give it a worn look.

Here is a close up of some hand stitching that I did.

The pattern was printed on the paper, but I had to put 

my spin on it, so I sat at my desk, and hand pierced all the

little holes so that I could cross stitch the birds. 

I love the depth it gives to the paper!

Here I just added a button with some floss to

make the clock "pop" a little

I did the same here, but I aslo added a bit of

sparkle on the white line with my Sakura

Stardust Pen

Here I added some scraps of ribbon

Here I punched some flowers, from some scraps of

paper I had.  I had to add some sparkle!

I have to say, once I figure out how to work with this paper,

the project flew!  I think I may have to teach a

class on this in the near future!