A Little Piece of Treasure ......

Hello and welcome to a somewhat different project today. It is rather special as it is not just made up of my own bits and pieces but includes a piece of my mother's artwork. 

We have a new challenge starting today over at A Vintage Journey - it is a bit of a celebration as we are celebrating our fourth anniversary. But .... instead of our usual Birthday Celebration Challenge Brenda has got us looking out:

TREASURE

Treasure can be described as wealth or riches we store or accumulate, a collection of valuable, interesting or useful things, bits and pieces we highly value, articles that we hang onto that we've bought or found and might never be able to purchase again. What is in your crafty or artsy treasure trove? Those items we squirrel away to keep for something special? Maybe some elegant embellishments, that hoard of ephemera or memorabilia found in a junk shop, a tin of old buttons, rusty keys or diamente jewels, a paper pad you get out and stroke and then put away again, some beautiful fabric or lace you can't bear to part with. 

We invite you in this challenge to share a project that includes a part of your treasure trove!

My mother was a wonderful artist, self taught, but able to work in all mediums. Towards the end of her life (back in the late 90s) and struggling with cancer which had destroyed her hands, she enjoyed making little sketches and painting on silk which she then made up into cards for us all. This was one she had made up but not sent (I couldn't bear to cut into one she had written on for me!).  

I managed to extract it from the card and although it is rather tatty in terms of glue and bits of paper, I still decided to work with it.

I went around the craft room looking for bits and pieces I think she would have loved. I didn't use them all in the end, but it was fun!

I found an old embroidery hoop (probably one of Mum's as well) and played with bits and pieces. This whole design changed as I progressed but it gave me an idea of what I could fit in.

I made a base from some card and painted it with PaperArtsy Fresco Chalk Paint (Chalk) and layered some papers stitching them on with the machine.

Then I had to experiment with the lace to try and hide some of the worst bits!  I really didn't want to cut into the piece to fit a frame as I knew it would probably all go wrong and I would regret it!

It worked quite well stitching the lace and then folding it back over the edges of Mum's painting.

And here are some close ups of the finished project.

I painted the embroidery hoop with the same chalk paint and added a distressed gold edging with DecoArt Gold Metallic paint.

I really love how this turned out in the end and of course it is rather special. I think Mum would have approved! She would have loved all the wonderful paint effects that we use today and I am sure she would have used them in a very artistic way. 

I do hope you will be able to join us in our challenge this month and hunt through your stash to find a little bit of treasure! Do hop on over to the challenge post at A Vintage Journey as my fellow Creative Guides have used some amazing pieces of treasure!

Thank you for joining me today and have a great weekend!

Jennie x