What's New?

It's that time again, the May challenge for Scrapping Everyday Miracles is here! This month we are focusing on a project that represents something new in your life. This was a thought-provoking project for me. It feels like life is the same old thing lately! I need a change of perspective though and that is my prayer.

The journaling on the pull out card reads:
I have definitely been feeling stuck in old ways of thinking and going through the  motions of life. I long to be transformed on a daily basis and be renewed. I feel like I’ve been in the desert (spiritually speaking), and I’m not quite sure how to find the way out. I want to be able to truly see what God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will for me is. I am so thankful that He cares about me and that He will change me for the better. My prayer is that God will start a new thing in my life and help me to get on board with it.  

The twist for May's challenge is to have something on the project that is old and something that is new as of this year. Pretty much everything I used is stuff that has been stashed in my stash for quite a while! (paper, flowers, embellishments) The really old stuff is the page of music I tore out of an old hymnal and the strip of lace that I colorized using Distress stains. The "new" items are the cameo and rectangle dies I used, the honeycomb embossing folder, and the new Tim Holtz Distress Paint. (fun new toys!) The paint is really quite fabulous. Here's a detail of the shabby chic, distressed look you can get with it:

To create this frame, I first adhered a sheet of the Ranger foil tape sheets onto a piece of chipboard. I then embossed the whole piece with the honeycomb folder. Then I used the embossed piece and cut out the cameo frame shape. Then the fun really began. I dabbed on Victorian Velvet, Broken China and Antique Bronze and blended them a bit with my finger and a few light spritzes of water. I mostly dried it (leave a few wet spots) with my heat gun and then added some layers of Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo. I partially dried that and then went back with a cloth and rubbed away part of the paint, exposing the colors underneath and even the foil tape in parts. I played around with some more layers of color and then did a final layer of Black Soot which I mostly wiped off again, just leaving some black in the nooks and crannies for definition. I'll have to do more of this because it was so much fun! The metal bird I colored using alcohol inks (Snow Cap and Cloudy Blue).

I hope you go and check out all the challenge details at SEM and to see the wonderful projects the rest of the DT has done. You have until the end of the month to link up your project and you'll have a chance at winning our sponsor prize, a gift certificate to BlueMoonscrapbooking.com!

Most of the supplies I used here can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Use my code JUICE if you go shopping there and save 10% off your order. =)