Circles for the Anniversary swap on ABC

I finally finished my circles for the ABC anniversary swap. The entire thing started with a piece of wallpaper sent to me by Brigitte. I knew I had to use it. Then, Theresa sent me a package of pastel rocking horses made just for baby showers. Since the colors went so well together, I just had to add them to the wallpaper. Since I wanted to hide the brad and extra fiber, I drew circles on the back and punched holes for the brads.

It was amazing how little pastel "stuff" I had. I scrounged through my fibers, brads, and paper to nearly no avail. Pastels were nowhere in sight. However, as I was studying the wallpaper, I realized there was no lavender, a color many ABC members tend to prefer and one that the horses came in. I also had an entire pack of card stock that was called "purple passion," luckily with one sheet of lavender. So, the concept was born.

If you are curious about the potato and circle in the upper left corner, stay tuned.
Here are all the little horses: 3 pink, 3 yellow, 3 blue, 3 lavender, and 3 green. They will never be in this same place again, and will soon be separated from their siblings to travel far and yon.
The front side reads "All I want for my 5th birthday is a big girl toy." I thought this was appropriate, since rocking horses are rather juvenile (unless your name is Elizabeth). Each rocking horse color has a corresponding jeweled brad. The gal was an image I found on the internet, that I manipulated in Photoshop using the "rubber stamp" tool and other effects that I didn't remember to write down.

For the back side, I began with lavender glaze, allowed it to dry, then added raisin and butterscotch color washes. Next I put beige glaze over the "ABC" strips. Since they were shiny and glossy, the glaze took two or three days to completely dry. Next I used the same beige glaze to tone down the bright foam alphabet letters that Theresa also sent me. Each back has at least one of the letters from the front for continuity. Finally, I added "Happy Birthday" and my name to the back.

I had to photograph these since they would never have scanned well, so I hope they enlarge. I actually thought this design through, but didn't realize how hard it would be to glue the circle backs to the wallpaper, then cut them out, being careful not to snip the rocking horse fibers in the process. Those little guys wanted to be free, but I didn't lose a single one!!