Not Quite a RAK!

Hi Everyone,

I'm back home after a couple of nights stay with my Daughter and her family having had lots of lovely cuddles with all three Grandchildren but especially baby Seth who, at 7 months old is now starting to recognise me quicker following a gap between visits.  Jenna, Seth and I also had a nice little train ride into York to have lunch with one of my lovely crafting friends, Emma.

This week is Random Act of Kindness week and a small group of crafting friends to which Emma and I belong decided to do our version of it which was more a Secret Santa type of thing.  Names were pulled out randomly and my recipient happened to be Emma so instead of posting it I took my RAK with me, especially as it was a bit awkward to parcel up.

A couple of years ago (at least) I found a metal memo board with a magnetised bird and butterfly attached in a charity shop.  They were covered with some decorative paper with Parisienne images which had probably been really nice originally but had become scratched and faded almost to disappearing.  As soon as I knew Emma was my recipient I knew exactly the makeover I wanted to give this.  I soaked and scraped off the original paper and searched through my considerable stash of 12" x 12" designer papers to re-cover the board.  This paper was just so lovely it didn't need any stamping and I definitely wasn't going to cover it up with paint or pastes! Once glued on and dried I blended Archival Ink lightly around the edges and then added light touches of Treasure Gold blending it into the middle.  From the strip I cut off I covered the bird and the butterfly and edged them in the same way.  I then gave everything two coats of DecoArt Matte Varnish to seal and protect the paper.

I then found a lovely chipboard flourish which I painted with Fresco Finish paints, stamped a script with Archival Ink and dabbed Treasure Gold onto the flower parts before gluing it to the memo board.  I also searched out the beautiful Prima flower embellishment and glued it and a metal flower to the flourish with heavy gel medium. Finally I stamped the quote and added a few gems to the bird and butterfly.

The last bit was to cover the front of a little memo pad with the last little piece of paper, stamp the quote and paint the back (no paper left, lol) with co-ordinating paint.

It's funny that I have had everything that went into this makeover in my stash for years, the paper must be at least 8 years old and although I love every bit somehow I've never been able to bring myself to use them but they all came together quickly as soon as I knew who the piece was for and I have to say I was well pleased with the finished project.  It turned out better than I had ever expected and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday and are looking forward to the balmy temperatures we are forecast for next week ;-).  See you again soon.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx