A Curious Little Shoppe

Hey chipper gang!  Barbara here, and it's my turn on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog to share a project with you today.  I love making things with dimension, and when I saw these adorable house shaped mini shadowboxes from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, I knew I had to play with them.  I expect this will be a series of projects that I will post, so stay tuned.  Today's box is using the fabulous Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe.  

I always lay my chipboard out the way it will be glued together, just to make sure I have it positioned  correctly.  I like to use Aleene's Fast Grab tacky glue to put my chipboard together.  It does just what the name says, grabs fast so you are hands free to continue working on your project.

After gluing the house together, I painted it, inside and out, with green chalk paint.  I cut a piece of blue print paper for the inside of the box.  Next, I carefully cut along this tiny diamond border from the paper collection and adhered along the front edge, as shown, piecing as needed.

NOTE:  All papers were edged with ink before adhering to help hide the white cut edges.  

I covered the outside (back and both sides only) with the red flourish print paper.  The roof was covered with red circles paper.  

I painted a small piece of the Texture Sheet Diamonds with black chalk ink and adhered inside the box.  

I then fussy cut small images from the Graphic 45 paper collection to see what would fit inside my mini box.  For added strength, I coated each piece with the ultra matte varnish.  It is totally invisible.  I place all of my images inside the box, as shown, including a tiny flower pot miniature I had in my stash.

Two strap hinges, gears, and propeller, were painted with black chalk ink, then I added a bit of the rust paint.  You will want to paint both sides if the backside of any of these shapes will be seen, as with the propeller, the lower part of the strap hinges, and a few gears. 

Glue the strap hinges to the roof.  The propeller with brad were added between the roof eaves that have been covered with the strip of wording from one of the papers from the collection.  

The curio cabinet was fussy cut, then pop dotted with two layers of dots to give it enough lift before adhering to the bottom of the house.  Half of the eyeglass and the peacock head were fussy cut, then adhered to the back above the curio cabinet image.  Wind up girl was shaped and adhered to the left edge of the box.  She is curious and is thinking of going into the shoppe.

Gears were added to the box, as shown. Some were cut in half and added to the box sides.  

On the back, the Olde Curiosity Shoppe sign was made by using a 1 ¼" square punch, and then I used a ticket stub corner punch on all four corners.  The raven holding the Carter's Liver Pills sign was fussy cut and also adhered, as shown.

Here is a closer look at the inside of the shadow box, as well as the sides. 

GSL Supplies Used:

Mini House Shadowbox 3

Hinge Straps Shape Set

Steampunk Shape Set

Texture Sheet Diamonds

Other Supplies Used:

Graphic 45 8x8 Olde Curiosity Shoppe paper collection

Black Chalk Paint (DecoArt)

Green Chalk Paint 

Ultra Matte Satin Varnish (DecoArt)

Rust Paint (Viva Decor)

Mini brads and flower pot

1-¼" square punch

Ticket stub corner punch

I hope you enjoyed my version of an Olde Curiosity Shoppe with this fun little Mini House Shadowbox 3 from Gypsy Soul.  I have a few more of these little cuties, so stay tuned to see where my imagination takes me next.  

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a very curious, and crafty, week! Make sure to check out Ginny's project on the blog today.

Barbara