So my daughter contacts me through Facebook the other day and asks if I could make a gift for her to give to her best friend who is moving away soon. She’ll send over the photos and a paragraph from a song that holds meaning for the two of them. I received several really nice photos of the two of them to use and the words from the song then set to create.
The challenge was to make it young – these girls are in the 20’s and I’m not. I went digging through my stash of papers and hit the craft closet for something thick that would stand up – she wanted something that would sit on a shelf versus a book.
I pulled out three, 5-by-7-inch canvases and kept digging through the papers to find the perfect ones when I hit upon the beautiful Gabrielle line from BoBunny – it was perfect! The papers were cut a bit smaller than the canvas pieces, distressed and inked before adhering to the canvas. I searched through at least three trinket and ribbon bins to find the perfect buttons, lace and Prima flowers. When there were holes to fill I added a Ranger Memory Frame with a BoBunny Gabrielle sticker placed between two pieces of memory glass, an Idea-ology metal corner and an old Making Memories heart ribbon slide. The top scallops over the center canvas were made with a Martha Stewart border punch mounted on dimensional foam squares.
The canvases are hinged with ribbon before I adhered the papers onto the backside. A pretty ribbon is attached under the title and the entire piece accordion folds and ties shut with the ribbon.
It’s always a sad day when you have to say goodbye to a good friend – they’re far and few in-between. I really hope they stay in touch and that this gift eases the pain a little.
Linda is a mixed-media artist and instructor who encourages others to dive head-first into the art of papercrafting; read more on her blog.
