Romantic jewelry or decoration bust

Hi everyone. Today I am super proud over how I managed to use my sweetpea stamps. I mentioned before that I didn't feel much like making cards lately. I've been feeling very "outside-of-the-box" and this is one of my best work yet.

I actually had the sewing and stand done a week or so ago, but the mojo wasn't really there for the final touch. So I let it mature for a couple of days and I'm really glad I did because I feel like I outdid myself.

I took a couple of photos in the beginning, but I seem to have misplaced them so this time the tutorial will be in writing more than pictures.

I started by drawing half a bodyshape on a folded piece of scrap paper. When I was happy with it I unfolded it, put it on a double folded piece of pink cotton fabric and traced around with a seam allowence. After that I inked one of my fav stamps, the serene night  with black fabric ink and stamped on the side of one of the cotton pieces. I did the same with the "follow your dreams" text from plate 4. I masked them both and used only the flower parts from spring witch to stamp around.
The fabric pens I have are of very poor quality I think - very kindergarten-ish - so I thought of other ways to colour the image. My thoughts went straight to my beloved promarkers...Yes, the fabric is coloured with promarkers, even shaded as normal. It bled a little, but not more than the fabric pens I had and I think it looks nice. But I have to give you 2 tips straight away:
1.do not moisten your fabric when you iron - the colours will bleed instantly.
2. Attach the iron-on hotfix crystals before you colour if you do it by ironing them. I think I damaged my iron, Ooops! Be careful not to add crystals too close to the edges as they might brake the needle when you sew front and back together.

When you're happy with the colouring and crystals sew together the 2 body parts right sides facing leaving it open in the bottom. Leave an inch or so seam allowance as you will close that gap by hand and it's easier with more fabric to work with. As you can see I added a piece of lace over her head and hip to add some interest before I sewed the pieces together. Stuff the body with filling - I tried 3 or 4 times to get the neck right, but it didn't want to stop folding so I left it as is. I'm sure you didn't even notice it but it bugs the heck out of me. I'm trying to live with it though, lol.

The stand was hard to find so I made it myself from a stick and a round wooden button that I drilled a hole through. I glued them together and let dry. After that they were painted with white paint and pink shimmerz. I wanted to give it an aged look so I added clear rock candy crackle paint over it. Tip no 3: not a good idea. For some reason the shimmerz reacted with it leaving a thick mush. It looked like I had mixed sugar in there - not a pretty sight so when it dried I sanded it off (giving it a distressed look in the end, haha)

Then I sewed the opening of the bust, leaving a hole in the middle for the stick. The stick isn't glued or anything it's just pushed in the filling. I found a ribbon in my stash that was perfect for the romantic vintage feel I went for. It's reversed on the backside so it looks as good on both sides. I tied it around the stick and placed under the bust. I added some dry pink chalk to three cream paper flowers I had never used and glued them to the base.

Last thing on my to do list was to balance her out as a lot was going on on the bottom half. So I took 4 different flowers and glued them together. Then they were attached with a tiny pin a la real hatpin style.

I was thinking about adding wings to her as seen on photo above, but decided against it in the end. 

I like it as a decoration, but think it would also be lovely to use as a bracelet or thin necklace holder.