Shabby Chic, Me?

Hello everybody.  Happy 4th. of July.  Here in Puerto Rico most are enjoying a Holiday and off work rainy Wednesday.  So sad for those who chose outdoor activities, but will probably enjoy anyway.  I'm at home doing some chores and wanted to take some time to post this.

It's a card I made and it's totally not my style.

At first just wanted to create something for fun with some Unity stamps I won recently in a Friends with Flair activity.  Then I saw there was a challenge going on with the use of paint.  When I searched among the stamps I saw this one and remembered there was a Shabby Chic challenge from the Outlawz that I had read about but thought I was not going to participate.  But then I said...  I should...  precisely because it is a "challenge".  So I'm going to enter this card in both challenges.

I had to search wikipedia for shabby chic definition so I learned I needed to achieve a vintage romantic look and needed to distress and use fabric combined with vintage decor elements, such as pearls, flowers, buttons, etc.  (This is sort of what I interpreted from the definition...).

So I started with this chipboard frame and painted with blue acrylic paint.  Then I distressed it with sandpaper and painted those spots with pink distress stain paint.

I stamped the image in white cardstock and cut with spellbinders in an oval scalloped shape.  I painted the image with watercolor pencils and finished some touches with glossy accents (I'm afraid these details cannot be appreciated in these photos.).  I inked the edges with distress ink and some paint.

I then placed the frame in the card base and worked around it to place the image in the center and add some of the elements that will make the card the style I wanted.  I used several kinds of ribbon and fabric, pearls, buttons, flowers... and a chipboard shape with the word "princess".  I also stamped an additional sentiment (for you) in patterned paper and cut with banner shape.

Here's a photo with a vintage effect to complement the style.

I hope you liked it...  I enjoy stretching myself from time to time, making projects I wouldn't do naturally.  I kind of had made some of this style before but probably as part of a class or indirectly, but not from my own inspiration.  Don't forget to leave me your comments...  They light up my life!