I spend quite a bit of time roaming the aisles of Dollar Tree and one day it just hit me to pick up a few of the different shaped "silver" platters. As with my post yesterday, I am not so fond of shiny metal for my crafts. Maybe it comes from not photographing well. . . but anyhow, the first thing I did was to look for a sheet of paper that would suit the edge of the platter. I knew it had to be vintage so I grabbed my pile of Webster's Pages and committed myself to a brown alcohol ink and swiped it across only the edge of the platter.
Once I figured out the paper I was going to use, I placed the platter on top of the paper and did an estimate on the width and height. I cut the paper first then traced the corners on the paper to fit inside of the platter. I did ink the paper with pink and brown.
I fussy cut the "Live the life you have imagined" from the same sheet of Webster's paper. I wanted it to stand out so I really inked that baby. Then I popped it with three layers of foam tape. After that I still needed something to make it stand out so I used a glue pen and some Glitter Ritz Grasshopper glitter. The Melissa Frances pearls finished the piece off. On top of that I used a Sizzix die to cut book board thickness chipboard. Then I used Melody Ross's doodle stamp to imprint the squiggly on the center. While the chipboard was still wet, I bent it to hold a real leaf shape. Once dried, I painted the leaf green (again always with my finger) and then inked the edges with Distress Ink.
Although it is very difficult to see in the photos, I used the glue pen to also add Melissa Frances' mica flakes. The white flowers are Prima with the colored centers. The small pink and peach flowers are from a local reuse store. And the big peach flowers are from a floral, planning shop called Fantastico in San Francisco. I think they were 6 for $0.59. The frame around the bird cage and keyhole are also Melissa Frances.
I actually made a special trip over to Scrapbook Territory just to find something to fill in the spot where the K & Company chipboard bird is off to the side. Everyone in the store was WOWed by this piece just walking around in the store searching for my perfect match. And I did not leave disappointed.
I filled in empty areas with Making Memories rubons and the Melisaa Frances pearls. Oh and that "paper" behind the photo is the Prima packaging from the flowers.
Hope you are inspired to create a beautiful piece from something so ordinary at the dollar store.
