Positive Affirmations - plywood wheel

So for this weeks post I am continuing on the how to use rice paper theme - and yes I can assure you there is plenty of rice paper in this project although I accept that you can only see snipits of it in the completed piece. However, the joy of creating is watching how a piece evolves as you add the layers to it.

This piece starts with a wooden wheel which is designed to have a central hub front and back making it quite dimensional. Ever one to not follow the rules the circular elements designed to stack have been used as embellishment pieces on my project.  The birch wood ply is quite pale and so I did not bother priming my piece before adding torn scraps of two rice papers - our love words and hard steel using decoupage glue. I continued until I had the whole surface covered. The joy of using rice papers for this is that it is easy to fold back the excess and also to sand it back - no need for precise paper cutting or getting the craft knife out. 

I love the collaged background this creates and I have no edges to disguise as the layering of piece over piece conceals where one is added because you can see through the layers to the one beneath so they merge beautifully together.

Next I spent a reasonable amount of time fussy cutting lots of elements from Wings of Freedom Extras set using almost all of both sets of the floral elements. I also cut out butterflies from teh extras set and also from the 12 x 12 papers. Whilst I had the papers out I also covered the ring shaped pieces of ply with paper too - sanding back the edges of these. I had a play about with the composition and added in lots of chipboard elements - botanical diary and spring flowers - there are lots to choose from if you look under chipboards floral and nature section. At this point I then glued everything into place - if you look at the finished piece you will see that elements got moved about quite a bit during this process.

 

My project still needed to feel complete and have a purpose. I love words and decided that I would add lots to this piece creating a piece full of positive affirmations. The words come from several different packs of die cut inscription chipboards by craft o'clock just have a look at the sets available and choose the ones that speak to your heart. Before gluing the chipboard pieces in place they were edged with gold wax. 

Finally I added a piece of shabby ribbon so I can hang my project up where I can see the words everyday and a shabby bow to complete the piece.