Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Handmade Joy Exchange

Recently I participated in the Handmade Joy Exchange created by Anne at My Giant Strawberry. Each participant sent a handmade gift to another participant, and received something from a different person.
I received a very beautiful pair of earrings from Stina at Honeywild Loves You.


The earrings have vintage bows and peach aventurine stones. Stina also included a pretty pin and her lovely business card. I love the earrings - they will be perfect with summer colors!!


My recipient is Ishrat whose blog is called Fruitful Fusion. She lives in Saudi Arabia, loves color, and does beautiful crochet work. I myself do not crochet, so I'm very impressed with her stunning work.
In her blog, Ishrat mentioned that she loves lilies, so I made a lily-themed paper cut for her.


I started off by drawing a design on white paper, making dots with a Sharpie pen (which I knew would go through to the back) in areas that would be cut out. I put specks of glue on the back over the black dots, then glued the white paper to green card stock, which I thought would make a nice outline.




Then I did the cutting through both the white paper and the green card stock. The glued sections fell through when cut out.


I peeled off the white paper when the cutting was done.


The cut-out could have been enough as it was, but I wanted to add color.


I traced the flowers and leaves onto light yellow paper and used watercolor pencils to fill in the shapes.


Then I glued the cut-out over the yellow paper and added a ribbon. This is how it looked on my door with sunlight shining through.


I love my earrings, Stina, and hope that Ishrat is pleased with her paper cut.
Thank you, Anne for a joyful exchange!

You can visit Anne's blog to find links to all of the participants' blogs!

Have a wonderful day!


14 comments:

Andrea said...

Gorgeous...great tutorial also!

Andrea said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anne Butera said...

Oooh, I love seeing your process on your paper cut. It turned out so beautifully and watching you create it is even more impressive!

I'm very glad that you played along in the Joy exchange! It was so much fun for me to watch the progress of everyone's creations. Certainly Joyful! What a wonderful place the Internet can be!

Anonymous said...

Hi Judy!
I'm Laura, one of the other participants at the Handmade Joy Exchange!
I really enjoyed reading your post, and discovering what you made and received!
I really liked your "tutorial"..and I'm surely will try doing something similar!!
It was such a joy participating at this exchange! ...CHEERS to our Celebration!!
Greetings!
Laura

sharon said...

Judy,
I'm captivated by your technique and once again overwhelmed by your artistry. A lily stained glass window!
Happy celebration.

Anonymous said...

Wow Judy!! Your lilies scissor cut is incredible and thank you so much for sharing the process.
Stay inspired!

Libby Fife said...

Those are lovely earrings, you lucky girl, you!

Thanks for describing how you did the cut out also. Very delicate work with beautiful results.

Simone said...

My goodness! The papercut is so intricate and precise. A labour of love. I am sure the recipient was delighted with such a work of art. x

Stina G said...

That paper cut is so beautiful!! I really enjoyed seeing how you did it as well, I had no idea! So precise with so many steps. I don't know if I'm that patient, haha.
I'm so glad you like your earrings! This swap was so fun.

Karen L R said...

I love the way your amazing paper cut and the pretty earrings are from the same color family. A fun coincidence!

I am amazed by the care and patience you put into the work you do, Judy. It was really wonderful to see your process here. Thank you for sharing it with us.

xo

Lorinda.C.F said...

Such beautiful gifts...given and received. Thanks so much for sharing your process Judy. I'd say you make it look easy but I think you just posess mad skills. Enjoy those new earrings. xx

Vixie said...

That paper cut is just beautiful! And Stina's earrings are just too cute! It was so much fun to participate in this swap - it's certainly filled me with joy!

fromyourmindseye.com said...

Judy, it makes me want to become a crafter when I see the beautiful creations and camaraderie amongst you all. Beautiful work everyone!

Fruitful Fusion said...

Dearest Judy!!!

I was so touched by your work when I received it! And when I read that you incorporated lillies in to your work because of my love for them, it brought a tear to my eye!!! I'm a big softy like that! I have put it away safely to display in my new home when we move to another continent and start a new adventure!!! I LOVE it! In the meantime, I will keep sneaking peeks at it as I think i will try and frame it with a clear backing. I absolutely loved reading and seeing the creation process! It just adds to the value! Thank you SO much Judy! xxx