A Gift for My Niece

Over the weekend I worked on the project for my niece's birthday. It's been one of those things that came together so slowly and was so vague that I feared whether it would come together at all. Flea market visits were always made with "the project" in mind and several purchases were made that were not used in the end...a daffodil plate, a small vintage bottle, some lace; they'll get used in other projects, I'm sure.

It began with the gathering of quotes using my niece's favorite singers and tossing in one that I especially loved.



I used Dawn's method and can't recommend the purchase of her tutorials enough...$10 is a bargain for all the information one receives. I'd have had to take a class to find all these tips.



I know that these sorts of images can be done on PhotoShop, but I don't know enough about PhotoShop to accomplish it. The photo above is a sheet of my music with cut images from other sources...both The Feathered Nest and The Vintage Moth, I believe. I literally copied them and printed them and cut them by hand and placed them on the sheet music and scanned them into the computer. It took forever! Good thing that my beloved was reading to me all the time. His voice is so soothing.



Then I played with the layout. At first, I thought that I'd be using painter's cloth for the background, but in a moment of serendipity when I was using placemats from the table for a size reference, I thought to purchase a placemat and alter it. This helped tremendously.



That vintage birthday card is the one that I also tucked into the pocket. Doesn't it look like a great March birthday card for my location? P.e.r.f.e.c.t. Even the quality of the light is the same and the level of snow and every little thing about it.





Yes, that's my favorite quote, which I stitched front and center. I also tucked a quote made into a bookmark into the pocket made from a crocheted doily or antimacassar. I created some tabs to hang the entire piece by and in the end this is how it turned out...



My niece is a very special gal who taught herself how to play the guitar and the piano. She had taken a few lessons as a child, but had hated them. Even though she sounded great, she really wanted to know how to play the piano properly so began taking lessons over a year ago. She found a teacher who respected her talent and ability to play along with her need to know the basics. It's been a great combination and I'm very proud of her. She says that she is going to hang this on the end of her piano and use it to hold some of her music notebooks. I'd love to see how she's planning that and if I ever get a photo of it, I'll add it to this post.

Thanks for visiting me today! Have a wonderful Monday...

Edited to Add:

Nothing that a little velcro can't handle!