Mo's Digital Challenge #17 (And More!!!)

Well, dear Crafty Bloglanders, I'm happy to be posting again, after a few days of hunting for my mojo.  I finally found it (hiding under the sofa) when I saw this week's challenge over on the DP2 Challenge blog.  After a wonderful month with Lisa, it is now time for the very talented Dawn Burnworth of My Stamping Thyme to host February's challenges, starting with this:

"Dawn's first challenge this month is all about "wood" or "would" (as in 'would' you be mine?)

So, make a card or 3-D project and incorporate 'wood' or 'would', or perhaps use

'faux wood' in your project."

Ooooh, all sorts went through my head but I finally settled on this:

Image: Mo's Digital Pencil, 'First Day at School' (Boy)

Papers: printed by me with a selection of wood grain vectors downloaded from Dreamstime, a stock photo website.

When I thought of wood, I immediately thought of marquetry, which, I suppose, is a bit like advanced paper-piecing but with wood veneer.  I wanted to create a wooden box with a marquetry panel but, obviously, I had no idea how to create the real thing.  But with a little imagination, a lot of patience and a bit of good luck, I was able to turn an old chocolate box into a shaker-style box, and paper-piece this delightful 'Mo' to give the feeling of a wooden marquetry panel.  Each piece is cut from a wood veneer paper and painstakingly applied to a base image, which acts as a guide. 

Once the piece was finished (and believe me, there are some really small pieces of paper in there!), I cut it into a circle and mounted it on to a darker shade of wood paper (a shop-bought version), to give it a frame.  I have kept additional shading on the image to an absolute minimum, just enough to give it a little depth. 

I had to be careful which image I chose - some of Mo's beautiful creations are so detailed that I wouldn't have been able to achieve a successful finished piece, or, at least, certainly not in time for the challenge deadline.

Here's a couple of close-ups - hopefully, you can see the individual wood grains more clearly in these two photographs.

Now, the exciting bit - the 'And More'!

Mo is looking for a design team member for March, both for her challenge blog and on the Dream Team blog. Be sure to visit both blogs, though, because the rules are slightly different for each.  Fancy a go? Then just pop over and see what it's all about - and be inspired by the wonderful samples the DT have produced on both blogs. Go on, give it a go, you never know!

Anyway, now that I've located my mojo again, I'm off to create some more (although I might have dinner first!).

Happy crafting.

xxxx