Whiff of joy guest DT call

Some of you know that I'm a huge fan of the Whiff of joy stamps (especially the ones drawn by Alison Acton - have you seen her latest ones? WOW!) So it's only natural that I want to apply for Katharina's bi-monthly guest design team call. I think I missed the last one, but not this time. I marked my calendar so I wouldn't miss  it :)

The challenge this time is to choose your fav WOJ project. I have a bunch of cards that I'm proud of, but the thing that stands out the most is this inspirational frame. I'm also very proud of my bookmark cart, but Katharina has already seen it and I actually got invited to the inspirational blog to show my tutorial of it there. It was such an honour.

So here is why this is my fav WOJ project of all times (at least so far). Click the pictures for a bigger view.

I used fall Willow catching leaves because I just LOVE the dynamic and feeling this stamp conveys. Her clothes and ribbons are flowing in the wind like the birds had just flewn by. When I came across the birdstamp from hero arts I just new I had to use it with Willow. The birds were the perfect size and I love how it looks like they are bursting to freedom out of her hands. I coloured them seperately and clearembossed to give extra texture. I also think Willow is coloured beautifully with my promarkers. I think I've evolved a lot since then, but it still looks great.

The decorated bird sitting in the right hand corner was one of my inventions. I was so proud when I made it because I hadn't seen anything like it anywhere else. I used a bird die that I embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder. If you look closely you can see a part of a bird on the embossing. I also made sure that the swirl was around the eye area to make it look like an eye. I cut away petals from a big primaflower and used them as tailfeathers.

I used a lot of tiny details like dimensional glaze on dewdrops, charms and beads and I even made a tiny butterfly from shrink plastic

Finally the inspirational sentiment that binds this whole piece together:
"Hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
life is like a broken winged bird
that cannot fly"

This was one of my first, if not my first altered project and definately my first try at distressing. So although it's been almost a year since I made it it's still one of my best pieces that I'm very proud of. Now all I can do is keep my fingers crossed and hope you'll do the same for me.