Whimsical Wednesday Challenge: Back to School Project!

Happy Wednesday, my sweet crafty friends! I hope your day is off to a sparkly start. :o)

The Whimsical Wednesday challenge this week is Back to School! Our fabulous Design Team member Faith came up with the idea. How fun is that? It's always nice to break out of the norm and create a project as opposed to a card or layout. There are so many exciting options for this challenge, and after much debate, I decided upon a teacher's gift. You can never have those too early, right? With a specific educator in mind, I created a drawer box and topped it with an easel card (my first!) that functions as a picture frame instead of a card.

"A smile is the reflection of a joyful heart."

The sentiment came about as I reflected on one of the things I most love about this teacher. It's the fact that her sweet demeanor encourages so many smiles. There are few things as beautiful as a child's smile. She continuously and effortlessly draws them as she fills their hearts with such joy, making the most of every opportunity to brighten their lives. It's also fitting, seeing as it rests below the frame that will soon hold cherished memories.

Suited to her personal preferences, I styled it to merge two of her favorite things: sparkly, swirly patterns used as the canvas to display her love for her kiddos. Displaying goofy photographs of her students on an elegant 'easel' is right up her alley. The scallop frame is trimmed in light turquoise (which doesn't really show) and is permanent. Tucked inside the drawer she'll find slightly smaller scallops ready to embrace a treasured picture, to be attached with small pearl brads. The frame is pop-dotted, so there's space to secure the tiny brad without wrinkling the papers. As a separate gift, I'll be making coordinating scallops containing little tidbits of encouragement, silliness, and observations to interchange with her personal photographs.

My love of sparkles and ribbon only intensified while I was away, so when I stumbled upon sheer glitter organza ribbon and a flower tutorial... jackpot! These are beautiful and easy as (eating) pie.

For the fastener/knob, I used one of my favorite buttons. Though the design is not hearts, it somewhat resembles them enough to make me think of them every time I see it. (Not that I'm sappy or anything.) Perfect for this project. :o) 

To finish it off, I adhered a rhinestone heart to the side because love needs to be a part of everything for this sweet teacher whose desire in life is all things beautiful. (More sap. I know.)

Tutorials used:
 * Drawer Box: Splitcoast Stampers (Note: I recommend making the drawer a little taller. I had to do some willy nilly things and improvise to lessen the gap.. next time I'll certainly increase the drawer height.)
 * Organza Ribbon Flower: My Butterfly Kisses 12 (Note: I had to use significantly narrower ribbon to suit this project and it was not wired, so your supplies need not be precisely as stated. Fabulous!)

I hope you'll join us this week in celebrating the beginning of a new school year! I'm excited to see what you all create. Visit the Whimsical Wednesday Weekly Challenge post to see what lovely prize is being offered. Also be sure to skip on over to the rest of the Design Team's blogs to see their incredible projects. :o) Thank you for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridge: Elegant Edges
 * Paper: DCWV
 * Ribbon: Casa Collections Special Occasion
 * Button: Tim Holtz Fanciful Buttons
 * Miscellaneous: iRock, Pearls