rustic elegance…

When I saw this photo, I knew I just had to choose it for this weeks inspiration at The Shabby Tea Room.  I love the contrast between the rustic wooden table and the very elegant table dressing~ sigh…

and then….I had to come up with a creation for this challenge!  I just couldn’t decide which way to go, since every time I looked at this photo, I saw it differently.  When I set my eyes on the ‘Antique Paper 3′ collection from By Digital Paper on Etsy, it all fell into place.  This collection of printable papers is so luscious!!  The distressed and aged edges are part of the fabulous design of these papers and one of the advantages of printing them yourself is that you can scale the size of the page to suit your purpose.  I scaled the main background paper to 53% to fit the size I desired.  That way, I didn’t have to cut off any of those gorgeous, digitally distressed edges. The paper used inside the frame was printed at 100%.

There are 8 different patterns in the collection and I know I’ll be using these again and again.  It’s also very appealing to print as needed and not having to store them!

In addition to a double bow made from hand dyed seam binding, I added a distress inked doily made into a ruffle by making a single cut from the outer edge to the center of the circle.  Then gathering the doily into a rough fan (or half circle) shape. The unfinished wood button was distress inked as well.  The flowers were inked with markers to tone the color down a bit…

These tiny tags were made with a favorite die, inked around the edges and then stamped.  I used trinket pins to hold some faceted crystal beads for an ‘elegant’ counterpoint to the ‘rustic’ wood frame. For this frame, I broke out a sheet of wood veneer that I had purchased last year and die cut the frame using two square dies.  Gotta love it when the light comes on and I can remember that I have exactly the right supply! …and even remember where it is!

Hope you get to play and share your creation with us at The Shabby Tea Room.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

*Hugs*

Rebecca