FRAMED LOVE

The Paper Pumpkin that arrived in April was simply precious. It was meant to be a giftable for Mom for Mother's Day. Even the FRAME was included!

This is what the project was planned to look like via the Paper Pumpkin instructions:

A little closer look:

It is quite cute, isn't it? But, I thought it looked maybe a little too contemporary for my 80+ year old mom. So, I decided to change it up a bit. This is what I ultimately came up with:

I guess about the only thing I kept as per the directions was the arrows in the background. From there, I took off listening to a drummer of my own.

Instead of using the outline of the Calypso Coral heart that came in the kit, I opted to use the INSIDE of the heart, a traditional heart shape. From a piece of scrap cardstock, I cut a smaller heart, a la kindergarten hearts. (Remember folding a piece of paper in half, then cutting a half heart, unfolding it, and voila A HEART?) I then traced my heart onto Coastal Cabana cardstock, cut it out, and adhered it to the kit heart. 

I had this wild idea to stamp a floral design and cut it out with the smaller heart shape from the Hearts A Flutter Framelits set. Using matching Stampin' Write Markers, I colored directly on the stamp -- HUFF! -- and stamped it onto Whisper White cardstock. I like it. Do you? 

So my layered hearts looked OK, but they screamed out for a little bling to snazz it up a bit. So three Basic Rhinestones were added to each side.

I wanted to do a little more layering. So, in Calypso Coral, I stamped the swirls banner and cut it out with the coordinating Framelit from Hearts A Flutter. I didn't really like the way that looked lying upon the stamped arrows of the background. So I Framelit-ed another piece from Coastal Cabana, and adhered it so the bottom scallops hung below the stamped banner. Good!

The button with linen thread bow (just as in the directions) looked just right mini dotted in place.

The belly band packaging was adorable. But, of course, my drummer stepped up once again, and I changed it up a bit. Instead of the creamy-colored bow that came in the kit, I turned to our elegant 5/8" Organza Ribbon.

The kit came with a sheet of 12 of the cute little Calypso Coral hearts. So, after adhering one to the bottom of the tag, along with a Basic Rhinestone, I added the remaining 11 to the bottom of the packaging. 

Isn't it cute the way the wrapper simply slips over the completed framed piece? I just hope Mom loves it.

Framed

Smiles.