Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

Welcome to our Mardi Gras parade. I must warn you though while you may enjoy jumping up to catch beads, doubloons, cups, stuffed animals--whatever! Please yell at the float riders "Throw me something, Mister!" Bring a large, sturdy plastic or cloth bag to hold all the treasure you'll be catching - if you try to put all of your beads around your neck, you'll have a hard time standing up straight! Be prepared: some people get so overcome with excitement they will occasionally jump in front of you to grab what a rider has thrown to you. Don't get into a tug-o-war....there are many more floats on the way! If you're from far away, some visitors hold up a sign saying where they are from.. our local riders love to see people from far away have a good time and will throw to them to make sure they do!

The colors of Mardi Gras are: Purple which reprsents justice; Green which represents faith; and Gold which represents power.Mardi Gras is always held the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is music, parades, picnics, floats, excitement ... and one big holiday in New Orleans! Everyone is wearing purple, green, and gold; and adorned with long beads caught from the beautiful floats. They sit on the ground throwing balls, playing music, having a picnic, and watching the crowds walk by between parades.

Instead of beads, coconuts (which apparently is the most prized throw from floats) and other baubles, we have a great sponsor:

~$15 Gift Card for Treasure Box Designs (http://www.treasureboxdesigns.com/). They are asking you to stop by their blog and become a followr of their blog at http://treasureboxdesigns.blogspot.com/. They are having issues with their blog at this time but asking you become a follower!

~$50 Gift card from Anita Meadows Cannon

Sew, sit back with your beverage of choice, just keep in mind the police will be in full force watching for drunken lewdness as this is a family event! Feel free to watch in costume, as this is a festive hop!! 

 If you have arrived from http://theglamoroussideofscrapping.blogspot.com/ on the parade route, then you are sitting at the best seat in the house! If you have just happened to be visiting me today, don't get me wrong as I always love visitors, I would love for you to start at the beginning of our parade route at Lynne, your hostess, at http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/ along with our marvelous co-hostess, Kimberly, at http://scrappingrookie.blogspot.com/.

Laissez les bons temps rouler, mes amies!  Thanks so much for stopping to take a look at my Mardis Gras project. 

 

I chose to make a modified picture frame, turning it into a memorabilia frame.  I found a wonderful Mardis Gras image, and edited it profusely to add character.  I printed it on Cardstock and trimmed it down to a 6”x6” size.  Then, I covered the picture with Glossy Accents and sprinkled Diamond Dust on top, adding a cracked glass effect to the picture.  The picture was then added matted with a cut down piece of gold card stock.  I trimmed the area where the mat met the picture with a fleur de lis border.  During the matting process, I used layers of acetate to create a glitter pocket and added gold, green and purple glitter to the upper left corner of the picture.  I softened with edge of the pocket with a green swirl border. 

 I repurposed an unused 8 ½” x 11” picture frame.  Since my picture was 6”x6”, I wanted my outer frame to be square, so I took a piece of 12” x 12” white board, and cut the middle out to accommodate an overlay of the 6”x6” picture.  I began to decorate the frame by applying Ranger Alcohol Inks with an in blotter using Wild Plum, Eggplant and Lettuce Green.  After the alcohol ink was applied, I sprinkled gold embossing powder on the ink and applied heat.  The effect of the embossing powder collecting where the ink was still a little tacky was beautiful!  Once the color was applied to the frame, I bordered the inside square with purple rhinestones and bordered the edge of the frame with green glitter border tape and gold rhinestones.  Then, I used purple and green glitter border tape, and stuck them together,  cut 6” strips, and twisted them all around to create a streamer effect.  I then embellished with miniature Christmas tree ornaments in green, gold and purple.  To the bottom of the frame, I attached an acetate pocket, with the phrase “Laissez les bons temps rouler” (“Let the good times roll”)  cut using Calligraphy Collection and Cricut Craft Room.  I cut using black card stock, but that looked a bit harsh on the colorful frame, so I used an Opaque Stix marker in Turquiose and gold metallic pen to color the letters.  I adhered them to the outside of the pocket using my Xyron sticker maker. 

I adhered my embellished whiteboard frame to the picture frame using hot glue.  Once assembled, I added music notes to the glass in the frame, which is “floating” above the picture, creating the illusion of music floating up from the saxophone.  I inserted beads in the pocket to show what could be done with the memorabilia pocket.  It can hold any scrap-able souvenir, such as tickets, small photos, beads, favors, etc.  I thought this would make an excellent way to display the various Mardis Gras memorabilia collected year after year...whether celebrating in New Orleans, or at your local watering hole’s celebration!

I hope you have enjoyed my float in the parade. To continue on the parade route, Your next stop is http://craftingwithblue.blogspot.com/

Time for me to say…”Throw me some comments!” on my project and sign up to follow my blog…. and let the next float roll on by for your enjoyment!  Thanks for stopping by!

Au revoir!

Lisa Woodward