Melanie Fink, Guest Designer
I LOVE October Afternoon's Woodland Park collection! The cute little fox, turtle, mice and bunnies are what first made me fall in love with the collection. Taking a closer look, I noticed how versatile this collection really is and how inspiring it is. I was thumbing through the miscellany and I smiled at every single piece of it!
I was very inspired by the yellow strip of paper in the miscellany pack that says "laugh, enjoy the sunshine, play, go for a walk, feed the ducks, lay in the grass." Who doesn't love going for a walk on a beautiful day, laying in the grass and having a picnic with someone you love? So, I decided to make a tote with treat holders (milk cartons in this case) that can be brought along on a walk. When you want to take a break from your walk and lay in the grass, you can enjoy the treats inside!
As I mentioned in my guest designer introduction post a couple of weeks ago, I love making things for others. This could be a fun gift for newlyweds or couples that have been together for years. It just makes a special day even more special or an ordinary day memorable.
The tote and milk cartons are SVGs by Lori Whitlock. There is a video tutorial on how to assemble these SVGs at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdtQLToNyVE . The video tutorial is very easy to follow.
I first assembled the tote. I chose a solid green color for the tote so the Woodland Park paper and embellishments would really stand out.
Next, I cut out the cartons and assembled them. I used gray twine from the OA's Farmhouse collection to close each carton on top (just untie to enjoy the treats inside!).
The final step is embellishing the tote. There are so many gorgeous embellishments in the Woodland Park collection, I had a hard time picking out what I was going to use!
To give my tote a whimsical feel, I added flying butterflies. The butterfly die-cuts are from the Woodland Park Flower Sack and Chip-N-Stick sticker pack. To make the butterflies fly, I cut three 4-inch long pieces of craft wire. I curled the wire by wrapping it around a pen. Next, I hot-glued the butterflies to one end of each piece of wire. Then, I hot-glued the opposite ends of each wire to the tote.
The last step was decorating the front of the tote. I added the yellow strip of miscellany that inspired me in the first place, as well as coordinating Shape and Chip-N-Stick stickers, and die-cuts from the Flower Sack. Overall, I achieved the whimsical, romantic feel I was going for.
Now if I could only make the weather here in Minnesota feel and look like spring! More snow is in our forecast! I can't wait for that first walk in beautiful spring weather!
If you missed my post last week, I mentioned I had a surprise on my blog! I am giving away a bunch of goodies from the Midway collection (12x12 collection kit, 8x8 paper pad, brads, stickey keys, flair and more). Stop by my blog at http://thepaperretreat.blogspot.com to enter! The giveaway ends next Friday, April 26th!
Melanie