GSL Cuts: faerie hollow

Recently, my morning walks have left little doubt about the arrival of fall. Sightings of acorns and numerous pinecones littered across the path, falling leaves of varying colors, and the crisp air have me thinking about the creatures and faeries settling in for the coming winter. It inspired me to create something a little whimsical. Today I am sharing faerie hollow, a little place to store some of my natural treasures found during my walks.

I begin with a Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts ATC sized faux book box. This box arrives flat, in 7 pieces. Whenever I create a three dimensional piece, I like to first put the pieces together without glue. This gives me an idea of what will go where, as well as a visual from which I can begin to imagine ways that I would like to decorate the piece. Once I have completed my "pre-assembly" I select a patterned paper that will be attached to the interior of the book.

I use the chipboard pieces as a template then cut the paper to the appropriate size. During this process, I always like to cut all my papers first. Then, once all of the cutting is complete, I adhere them. To keep track of which piece goes where, I label the back sides of the paper pieces with a letter or number and write that same letter/number on the corresponding chipboard. All of the writing ends up being covered when the papers are attached, it simply makes everything much easier when you are at the gluing stage. [Note: the insides of the box pieces will need to be sized to fit within the tabs, while the coverings for the outside edges of the box will need to extend to cover the interlocking tabs.] All of the edges of my cut papers are inked with gathered twigs distress ink.

With all of the papers cut to size, the next step is to add paint to the chipboard. I paint all the edges of the chipboard pieces with brown paint. This piece is made of heavyweight chipboard so it doesn't warp when you add a thin coat of paint. I already know that I will be covering the book box with papers , so I do not bother to cover the entire pieces with paint, only the edges where my papers will end. The paint will give all the edges a more finished look.

When assembling the faux book box, I use a linen hinging tape along the spine where it attaches to the covers, this allows the "book" to open and close freely, without the worry of paper ripping or wearing out over time. If you don't have any hinging/binding tape, a piece of medical tape will also do the trick. Allow a gap between the spine and each cover. I cover the inside (gap) exposed portion of hinging tape with a piece of thin washi tape. This serves two purposes: covering any sticky portion of tape as well as presenting a clean and coordinating finished gap between the pieces.

All of the cut papers are attached to the box with collage medium. If necessary, weight down the pieces while they dry to keep them from curling. For my purposes, I adhered the inside paper pieces then secured the box into the back cover piece, before I added the outside box covering (wood grained paper). You can work however you are most comfortable; however, if you would like to cut long strips of paper and wrap the outside corners of your box, it would be best to work like I have described. Be sure to cut out the slots from the base paper that will be attached to the back cover so that the box sides can easily fit into the openings.

When all of the interior papers are in place, I attach a faux wood-grained paper to the outside of the box portion of the book, as well as the back cover and spine.

The "wood" is created with distress watercolor cardstock and the Sizzix Lumber 3D texture fades embossing folder. Once the grained pattern is embossed, I use a combination of inks, paints and mediums to create an authentic wood appearance. The papers are then cut and attached to the book box with collage medium.

For the front cover, I cut a piece of Bristol to fit. I stamp some toadstools onto the lower section in archival ink, and color them with distress inks, using a water brush. The garden fairies small are the perfect scale for the stamped mushrooms. The set comes with six different fairies; for this piece, I am only using two of them. The rest will be used on a future piece.

I carefully remove the pieces and cover each one with Versamark embossing ink, then coat with a layer of mirror platinum embossing powder. The powder is heat set, then the fairies are set aside. Once cool, the fairies are attached to the cover paper with collage medium. Using a swirling stars stencil and perfect pearls, I add a bit of magic to the scene, which is completed by stamping the word "believe" in the upper left corner.

When the book box is opened there is a small die cut mushroom in the corner of the box. I can't wait to begin filling this with small treasures found along my morning walks.