I had so much fun creating in my studio today. I only managed to get one project finished, but sometimes I spend more time in creative thought than in creative action, as was the case today. Sometimes I just have to spend a lot of time making sure everything is as I really like it before I can call it complete.
This project features a vintage photo of my mother. She was not quite four at the time, and she's the picture of prettiness in her fashionable dress of the day. I do believe my great-grandmother made this dress for mom too, which makes it even more special.
I used a plain white canvas as the base for this project, since I was going for mostly a black and white color scheme. However, in looking at it (and debating it for quite some time!) I decided that the white canvas was just a bit too white. So I used some Old Lace colored Glimmer Mist to spritz the entire canvas and give it a bit of shimmer. I did the same to the black and white-patterned scrapbook paper that I tore and distressed next, and then adhered it to the canvas. Then I added the photo of Mom, and I used four black brads and some Mod Podge to glue that to the paper.
If you look closely at the photo, you'll hopefully notice the pearl beads I added to represent the necklace Mom is wearing in the photo--it looked like pearls to me, though the photo is kind of small (3x4) so it's difficult to know for sure. But I liked the idea of giving the piece a 3-D effect with the pearls, and I think it looks neat now that they're on there.
After the pearls, I added a black satin bow with a pearl accent to the top of the photo. Then I added some alphas to spell out the word, Dance, because to me, she looks like she's ready to dance. I finished off the edges of the canvas with some decorative black trim. It's difficult to see it in the photo, but it really helped to give it a finished look, and tied in all the black together.
The inspiration for this piece, aside from my cute little mama in her perfectly fashionable little black dress, was the Gingersnap Creations Haute Couture Challenge, the theme of which was fashion. I'm also using it for the Craft Your Passion Challenge for this week.