Hello, dear crafters

Hope you had a good weekend!

Burlap panels are the latest to hit the store--- and burlap is also our theme for this month's challenge. I have a step-by-step post for an altered 8x8 inch burlap panel for your today....hope it inspires you to join the challenge!

I love burlap because it fits rustic shabby themes perfectly and also because it adds amazing texture to a project. Here's how I went about putting this quick layout together:

1. I started with an 8x8 inch burlap panel.

2. I gathered patterned paper, flowers, sentiments, chipboard pieces, and a sheet of burlap from the Little Birdie Shabby Chic burlap stack. The cool mint pattern paper is from the Little Birdie Chevron in Aquarelle stack. I picked this photograph of my husband and me to frame on this layout.

3. I trimmed the cardstock down to the desired size, traced circles on the burlap sheet and cut them out (they do not have to be perfect), picked doilies for layering, and chose the ornate frame out of the chipboard pieces I had prepped (I did not end up using the brick chipboard and the "Love" die-cut sentiment).

4. I used the flourish cake stencil to add texture (and the pop of bright white) using modelling paste.

There's something about burlap+white! <3

5. Moving on, I started layering the doilies and burlap circles--added another piece of pattern paper (from the Jen Hadfield Homemade stack by Pebbles) to add a layer of white between the burlap circle and my cardstock.

6. It's finally taking shape! I am moving these around to find the right placement. I still have to decide where the picture goes.

7. I've found my spot for the picture--layering the photomat with cardboard to give it the right dimension.

8. Placing flowers and other elements around the photomat to arrive at the right composition, and firing up the glue gun meanwhile!

The bit of teal ribbon, which I made into a bow, is from my stash. The flowers are from the Little Birdie Sparkle Flowers range in Ocean Mist (all supplies linked below).

For the sentiments, I used printed song lyrics mounted on cardboard--I inked the sentiment pieces and went around the edges of the cardboard with gesso to keep the brown from showing.

I did finish my layout with faux pearls from the store (linked below) and gems from an assortment pack of mixed media embellishments (in-store only) which I picked up at the Hyderabad store recently (If you think I am showing off already, I have barely gotten started! :D Hah!)

And there is my finished rustic chic burlap panel: