my entry to Micheals' springtime in Paris contest

I finally finished a mix media project that I created for Michaels' Springtime in Paris contest. I am uploading the entry later today but thought that I'd share my project here first.

My heart skipped a beat when I read the Michaels' email newsletter announcing the contest last month. The grand prize for the contest is a trip for two to Paris! It was hard to pick just one category for the contest ... art, floral, baking, papercrafting or jewelry ... I love doing ALL of those things.

My entry is a mixed media piece that is a combination of so many different things that remind me of the time I spent in Paris with my oldest daughter, Haley, as a parent chaperone for a March Break school trip in 2008. 

One of the first places that we toured in Paris was the Palace of Versailles and it was the main inspiration for my project. I started with a stretched linen canvas that has lovely nail head details on the sides. I added gold stripes to the canvas using Martha Stewart’s decoupage, gold glitter and masking tape.

Audrey Hepburn’s quote “Paris is always a good idea” seemed like the perfect saying to add to the framed chalkboard element I wanted to use as my focal point. I painted a piece of canvas with Martha Stewart’s black chalkboard paint and added the lettering using a chalk marker and a fine paint brush. I think that Marie Antoinette would have liked my ornate oval antique picture frame which I painted with Martha Stewart's vintage chalk paint.

As a reminder of the beautiful flowers from the Palace gardens, I created paper flowers from assorted scrapbooking papers, vintage glass buttons and wire stems wrapped with fabric strips. Twisted wire jute "vines" and paper flowers grow out from behind the oval frame and allowed me to hang vintage teaspoons that I stamped with the words "LOVE", vintage chandelier crystals and tiny Eiffel Tower charms that I purchased in Paris.

 I further personalized this piece by adding three photos that were taken in Paris. I am a little late entering the contest only because my youngest daughter was just in Paris this month for a March Break school trip and I wanted to make sure that her selfie by the Eiffel tower was included in my project. My oldest daughter’s photo with the Eiffel Tower in the background is one of my favourite photos of her at that age. The third photo in my project with the words “take me to Paris” will hopefully be replaced at some point with a photo of my husband and I in Paris … of course by the Eiffel Tower.

I photographed my entry to the contest as a lifestyle shot to set the mood for my project. I created the mug with the heart glitter beads a while ago. I keep thinking that I really should do a tutorial on the blog to show you how I have been making these dishwasher safe mugs using different kinds of glitter and inexpense mugs from the second hand store.

This is the mini sketchbook I took to Paris in 2008. I spent every night - after the kids were asleep - in my hotel room sketching things that we saw and did that day. The Michaels' Springtime in Paris contest winner will experience a sketching lesson with urban sketchers in Paris ... wouldn't that be awesome? The winner will also create a floral arrangement at the Catherine Mueller flower school and take a French cooking class at La Cuisine Paris. 

I created a few different memory books to remember my time in Paris with my daughter in 2008. I am keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed that I get to make some new Paris memory books later this year. 

You can see more about the Michaels' Springtime in Paris contest here: