Flower Child Blog Hop Winners & Another Project

Hi Everybody!  Sure hope you were able to join us for the Flower Child Blog Hop.  And I wanted to post the list of winners here just in case you haven't had a chance to see them yet.  But first, I wanted to personally thank everyone who stopped by and left a comment.  I'm not sure I can really convey how very much I appreciate and am inspired by the kind gesture of your comments.  Perhaps even more so on this hop because I took on a project that was very new to me.  I was so very touched by all the heartfelt comments.  I do hope you all know how very much your visits are appreciated!

Ok, on to our winners!  (Winners, please see details on how to claim your prize on the SNS Blog) Congratulations to the following hoppers who have won a prize:

Grand Prize #1 – Stamp Set on cling  -   Carrie

Grand Prize #2 – Stampette Set on cling  -  A French Accent

1^st Place – 2 Glitter Tinsels  -  Katy  (from Julie Zippel’s Blog - yeah, we have a winner from here!)

2^nd Place – 3 Embossing Powders – Sherry Murphy (from Brenda Smalle's Blog)

3^rd Place – 3 Glitters – Susannah (from Charlene Driggs Blog)

Now, for an extra project (as promised!).  Using the same Sweet Briar Frame as I used on the scrapbook page, this time I created a really sweet home decor project.

For this project, I was inspired by some floral metal picture frames I already had in my house.  So, I thought, why not try to recreate that same look with the Sweet Briar Frame stamp?  Not only did it turn out great, but it was the perfect size for (full sized) wallet photos.  Perfect!

To create the look I was going for, I did in fact stamp on actual metal.  I love working with this medium and stamping.  The look is so unique, the material so versatile, and to top it all off; it takes heat embossing so very well.  Lots of fun to work with.  If you'd like to see a couple more projects I've done with metal (completely different styles too); check out these samples of Embossing on Metal in the Tips & Techniques section of the SNS website. 

For this project, I used basic craft metal that you can buy in most craft stores.  You'll find that different stores sell different variations of this and you'll find it in different parts of the store.  The metal I used came in squares, but you can also find it in larger sheets or rolls.  Normally, I don't "back" the metal to work with it.  But for this project (after a lot of experimenting!), I found that backing it before stamping, embossing, & cutting out gave a much smoother look (& more substantial) to the finished piece.  This metal is fairly flexible so it can get "kinks" and mark fairly easily.  For some projects this wouldn't matter.  But to retain the smooth look on this project, adding a backing helped resolve this problem.  (Another option would be to use a heavier gauge metal - I just happened to have this metal to work with.)

Click pictures for best view

Here's a close up of one of the frames so you can see the embossing better.  I experimented with both detail and regular silver embossing powders to see which gave me the best overall look and decided to use the regular.  Detail powder does exactly that, show details really well.  But I wanted a little bit more dimension (thickness) for this than detail powder gives.  (Side note: Super thick embossing powder would give even more dimension than the regular silver powder, but you'd lose most of the details on an image like this).

Full instructions for this project can be found on the SNS Art Gallery here.  This turned out to be such a cute project.  Plus you can "customize" it - match the ribbon to your decor or the picture backgrounds and of course.....add as many photos as you'd like!  Make one for Grandma with all the kids photos hanging from it.  Or how about a family one with a picture of each family member.  Pictures don't even have to be professional.  Snap photos with a simple background & have them printed up in wallet size - almost every photo dept is able to do that nowadays - most even in an hour!

I Hope you've enjoyed this project & perhaps will make one for yourself or someone you love!  I'd love it if you could take a second and leave a comment or two  - I do love to know you were here & read your feedback.  Hope you'll stop back again soon!

Until next time,

***Julie***

Supplies Used:

Stamp - Sparkle N Sprinkle

Embossing Powder - Sparkle N Sprinkle

Craft Metal - Walnut Hollow

Wall Hanger - Scrap Essentials/Joann Fabrics

Ribbon - ? (Hobby Lobby)