Swap gift

Hello!

I have to start by saying 

I LOVE paper!

Not just scrapbooking paper, although most

of what I have is for scrapbooking, but I love paper 

of different kinds.

And I have a real problem with it,

I hate to use it, I just want to keep it,

look at it, admire it and cherish it.

I have been getting better about that,

and this past year I have made a real effort to use

some of my favorite papers.

After all isn't that what they are for?

No more saving them for just the right project,

I'm MAKING them the right projects.

Okay, now that I've made that confession,

I'll get to the reason for this post.

There is a store in Rochester, NY, about an hours

drive from where I live, that I just love.
The Art Store

isn't a crafty type of store, they have a LOT

of wonderful art supplies.

One of the things they have is paper!

Not just any paper, but some gorgeous handmade papers.

Thanksgiving weekend I went with my friend, Mary,

to do a little shopping and I couldn't resist buying some 

of the papers, but this time, I had a real purpose in mind.

This picture doesn't really do the paper justice,

but I bought this with Mary in mind.

We are in an Art Swap Group together and I 

happened to be given her name for the Christmas

exchange.

It took a while to decide what I wanted to do,

but then when it came to me, it came together pretty easily.

I started with some nice quality heavy weight watercolor paper

and Tim Holtz Distress Inks

(Sorry I don't remember which inks I used to create

this background.)

I wet the paper with a generous amount of water.

I "smooched" some ink onto an acrylic block and

picked it up with a wet paint brush, then dropped it into 

the water on the paper.

I let the color flow through the water and then used a 

heat gun to dry the entire piece.

It took me a while, but I finally found a quote that I

thought was perfect for Mary.
I printed the quote out in a font that I liked onto

plain computer paper.

I taped the quote to my light box,

then taped the painted paper over the quote.

I painted the quote with a gold water color crayon

and a fine paint brush.

I love how it turned out.

Now I needed to decide where to place it on the paper

and what size I wanted it to be.

I trimmed down the quote as well as the background paper.

I matted the quote with white card stock to set it off,

adhered it to the background paper and adhered that to

a piece of foam core.

I'm very fortunate to have a husband that is a photographer

and custom framer.  He had just the frame I needed

and we framed the piece in a gold frame

I love how this turned out and hope Mary loves it

as much as I do.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I hope you'll think about some projects you can

make with some special papers that you've 

been hoarding, or pick up something wonderful

to work with.

Come again soon and you'll see the projects

 I made for my kids for Christmas with

some of these gorgeous papers.

Until then, Happy Crafting