A Prayer Box for a Friend

Good evening everyone!  Yes, it has been a couple of days, but I have been busy.  I enjoy paper crafts of all types and I have been working on not just only paper crafts but also a couple of mixed media projects as well.  Today I have something that I made for a dear friend who has been under a lot of stress lately.  I tell her constantly that she needs to find a de-stressor in her life, she needs to take time to herself to reflect on her life, where it is, where she has been, and where she hopes to go.  Meditation is something that helps to soothe the mind and body, so I decided that I would like to make her a Prayer Box to help direct her reflective thoughts and hopefully be a witness to her as well. 

The outer sides of the box are either embossed or have a verse/quote on them.  The cover side are spellbinders.  The butterfly is LOC on vellum with copic and DI, then sprayed with Tattered Angles, these are sides 1 & 2.

These are sides 3 & 4.
The top is another of the Tissue paper Roses topped with another LOC butterfly and some Spellbinder's Fleur d' Lis small pendants.

 The rose has a Large Pearl in a gold setting for a center piece, the butterfly has two blue Svorski rhinestones for it's body.

As you lift off the box you can see it is just stuffed with flowers and some butterflies, it is a very intriguing peek :)

As the box continues to unfold, you can begin to see that the sides are actually beginning to each have it's own purpose.

And then finally it is open.  Every other side is a basically flat fitting piece that can fit snugly behind a flowered piece.  All the flowers and butterflies fit into the center area where they don't get crushed.  A quick look at each panel so you can see some of the intricate detailed work.

Here is a Spellbinder's Peony with inked edges, MS butterflies one in a pearlized vellum, the second painted with Shimmerz Paintz.  All set on an AC silver foiled cs.  The flower the lg. butterfly is on is a composite flower made with some medium sized flat flowers that I rounded up and put a coordinating wild orchid rose on the center.

This next panel is a verse panel with one of my more favorite verses on it when I was a single mom.  The flowers were some precut pieces that I embellished a little more to make them look like old gold with a patina type finish, and a light blue pearl center.  The butterfly is vellum  painted with Shimmerz and all the die cuts are Spellbinders.  The scalloped oval is embossed and the last layer is AC gold foiled cs in the large Fleur d' Lis pendant.  All large and small pearls are Kaiser.

This next panel starts with a Marianne design corner flourish die cut.  My friends favorite color is orange, of any and all shades, so you will see it from light to bright, rust to tarnished.  the small roses again are Wild Orchid roses, as well as the glass spray.  The butterfly is from Layers of Color (LOC) which I am sure you know by know is one of my more favorite stamp suppliers.  The branch is MS.  The multi faceted "bling" is from a wonderful little place called Pizzaz Aplenty.  It is an on-line store that I check about every 3 months cause she is always getting new and neat stuff in and the prices are absolutely wonderful!  Most al the small detailed bling is from http://www.pizzazaplenty.blogspot.com/, be sure to stop over and tell her I sent you :).  Everything has been sprayed with a light mist of tattered angels marshmallow, just enough to give it a little glitter.

The color on this is hard to see, the colors are a pine green.   This verse is layered on silver foil cs, SB Faire Isle Pendant, cs is Club Scrap.  The piece of 12 X 12 that this all rests on is a Bazzil.

Back to another flowered panel.  The white flower is made from a special paper that I received from Club Scrap when I subscribed to them years ago.  Each flower petal was lightly brushed with stickles on the inside tip for a light look of dew.  The lower end of each petal was brushed very lightly with DI Marigold to give the flower depth.  The center is a cluster of iridescent beads stuck in glue.  The mini pompom Dahlia's are handmade (I watch a lot of YouTube videos),  the leaves were handcut and embossed and veining lightly painted in to give depth.  All sits on a sm gold foiled Fleur d' Lis pendent.

Mother Teresa made doing not such a chore, elevating self-worth for those who feel they almost constantly give and receive nothing in return.  Another favorite quote, this one by Our Daily Bread Designs.  Set on a light peach cs, and matted again with a rust cs.  The copper embellies are all "cut-outs" from all the other larger background  SB pendants and then everything was lightly misted with Tattered Angels.

The last flower panel was in blues/light violets.  A sm MS butterfly graces another composite flower arrangement that is placed on another Marianne Corner Diecut, with MS branches and WO roses and crystal cluster. 

This final verse is also another one of my favorites.  Full of encouragement and love from our precious Lord., this panel is very sparkly and gorgeous, but after several tries with the camera, I gave up and just posted the best one.
Finally, is the center.  My favorite piece.  I am a horticulturist, and I love to try and make realistic paper flowers on occasion.  This lily was a simple enough piece that I felt I could do it.  Using Heartfelt Creations Lily die, I cut the petals.

Then I folded and pinched the center of each petal and lightly painted in the center veining with Lindy's stamp Gang Spritz.  Once dry, I rolled each of the petals so that it would gracefully turn out and back the way the flowers in my garden do.  The stamen I made by folding a 4" piece of cs in half and glued it together.  Then I cut it into skinny strips, one of the strips I took and cut into 1/2" pieces, folded it over the ends of the other stamen and glued it on.  Once dry, I covered it with stickles.  On the Pestle I took a larger piece of the glued cs and put it crosswise, and then brushed it with white liquid pearls from Viva.  The leaves I hand cut, then embossed in veins.  I roughed up the edges just a little to try and emulate the small ridges that some of the larger leaves have.  Here is another view of the center piece:

 In this view you can see the pestle better as well as the iridescent blue butterfly from LOC.  It is also easier to see the painted veining.  The background paper this piece is sitting on is a piece from Club Scrap that tied everything together, it has every color in it that is in this box.  I pray that this box blesses my friend and  helps move her to a place of comfort and peace.  I had a lot of fun making this piece.  While I made it, I took a break and also did a card which I will show you tomorrow.  Hopefully within the next couple days you will see another 3D multi media project I have been working on for a young lady who helped me immensely when I was recovering from a very bad accident.  She brought light into a very dark time for me, and I hope that what I am making will bring light into a stressful time for her.  Until tomorrow, blessings to you all.  Good night.