monkey see, monkey do

i happen to have diy cable channel on this morning when i saw the segment of someone demonstrating how to use embossing powder to create a "glassy" effect...it didn't look hard to do & seemed like a fun experiment, so i came up with this piece of wall art>>> i took a piece of scrapbook paper with text already printed on it, punched out 3 small butterflies, then arranged & adhered the punch outs on the scrap paper. now here comes the fun part>>>i took my clear embossing pad & smeared it all over the top of the scrap paper. next i dumped a bunch of clear embossing powder & got my handy dandy heat embosser & melted all that powder (note: you want to cover the entire surface of the paper)...i did this process a couple more times...what's happening here is you start to get a glassy effect...cool, i know. then when the paper is dry & okay to touch (because after going under the heat gun 2-3 times, the paper will be wicked HOT), i adhered this quilled butterfly with clear glue, added word stickers ("just", "be"), a silver charm ("believe") & 2 tiny paper flowers. i glued the completed collage onto piece of masonite (or you can use a piece of sturdy cardboard, matboard or wood...whatever is handy), the same size as paper (here it's about 4"x4")...then i asked my dh to drill a couple of tiny holes at the top of the piece so that i could slip a piece of pink yarn/fibre through the holes as well as frame it around the edges of the piece (he's in control over power tools here)... ta-da>>>here is the finished piece, ready for hanging...well, actually, i made this for my pal & blog sista, melba, whose birthday is about a week after mine {smile}...it's fun to experiment with new techniques & then create something that is nice to give as a gift. happy birthday melba!