Paper Seedlings: & THE WINNER IS . . . AMPERSAND!

Have you noticed lately the proliferation of everything AMPERSAND? You know that cute symbol that stands for the word, "and"? They seem to be everywhere!

Adding the perfect touch of whimsy, this symbol fits into many a decor, especially one that begs to be a little bit eclectic. Like my own decorating style.

I personally have picked up a few of the ampersand symbols, and, for the most part, I have them displayed in my Creation Station space.

At Target, however, when I came upon this large unfinished wooden ampersand, I grabbed it with the intentions of actually DOING something to it. The piece measures a generous 10" tall by 9" wide. The wood is 3/4" thick, so gives a good, solid base for standing without any kind of additional support.

My first thought was to cover it in Designer Series Paper, namely a piece from the Bohemian Designer Series pack on page 142 of the big catalog. So, I carefully selected the piece of DSP I wanted to use, set the ampersand on top of it and -- stuck it away. Like I do so often. I always have such good intentions.

What do they say about "good intentions"? THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS. Uh oh. I'm in trouble.

Anyway, recently I came across this "good intention" again. I had a day off, nothing really planned, so, I finally went ahead with my project.

I simply traced the ampersand onto the back side of my chosen DSP with a pencil, then carefully cut it out. I used Stampin' Up's Glue Sticks to put a good even coat of glue onto the wood and also onto the back side of the paper piece. I smoothed and smoothed the paper in place to get a good seal.

Initially, my intent was to add some sort of embellishment that I was going to make. However, when I finished with solely the DSP, I loved the way it looked so much that I thought anything else added would be overkill. It worked so well with just the happy design of the DSP, I decided to leave it as is.

And I am very pleased with that decision.