Paper Teapot Design Team

I have been on the design team for the Paper Teapot for almost a year, and have not put up any of my pages on my blog. I felt it was about time I corrected this omission.

So I am starting with the initial challenge (May 2013). All the DT members were given an identical set of papers and embellishments and told to create something fabulous.
Here is what I came up with...




When I saw the cute birdcage chippie, I immediately thought of the photo of my great grandmother Elizabeth Smith, at age 16, with her pets. The photo is circa 1907.
The idea of incorporating the open book into a layout has been in my thoughts for a while, and this seemed the appropriate time to try it out.
The cardstock for the book cover was shaped over a bamboo skewer, as were the curls on the book pages.
The swirls were cut with a combination of Spellbinder, Cheery Lynn, My Favourite Things and Couture Creations dies, and accented with pearls recoloured with alcohol markers.

The birdcage and resin flower were coloured with gold acrylic paint, and the edges of the flower touched with pink alcohol ink. There were 3 of the largest flower cut from the Tim Holtz tattered florals die with very scrunched petals, recoloured with a homemade spritz of Picked Raspberry distress ink and perfect pearls. This was also used to colour the ends of the paper roses, and as a final accent on the leaves.
The leaves were from the Cheery Lynn Rose Leaf Strip die, cut out of a book page (The one thing from my stash allowed in the challenge) coloured with distress stain and wrinkled.

The lettering was cut using the Tim Holtz die strips Vintage Market and Upon a Time.
The birds at the bottom were stenciled through a The Crafters Workshop stencil, using texture paste coloured with acrylic paint. The had pearl eyes recoloured with alcohol markers, as were the other pearls accenting the page.
All the edge inking was with vintage photo distress ink.