Swap Set: Velvety Black Tulip

This is one of those items that pictures just don't quite capture the feel and visual effect of the real thing.   I tried with the close up though.    These are scrapbook page elements for a swap hosted by my online scrapbooking friend JenniferD on Scrapshare.com.   The theme of this group is black and the elements are designed with a two page spread in mind.   I can picture the border spanning across two pages with about four or five prints mounted just above it and the tulip as an accent.   Add some more black and white printed paper and a title.... voila, the pages should be done. At least that's how I see it in my mind's eye.  I'm sure the recipients of the swap may have some other ideas too.     

There are actually two slightly different versions due to paper constraints.  Notice that the border on the top and the border on the bottom images are slightly different.

I used papers by GCD.   The top layer on the tulip and on the medallion are flocked.  The black on those layers actually has a nice rich texture to it.   That's one of the things that's really hard to capture on film.   The tulip is made with Make the Cut (MTC) software by tracing a clipart image of a tulip.  I created a couple of shadow layers and cut it all out with my KNK Zing.   The borders started out with border strips that came with the paper pack.  I added more layers though and some pearls.   The medallion is made using circle punches from Creative Memories and EK Success, and some Scallop punches from Stampin Up and EKSuccess.