GSL Cuts: Memories of Portugal

Happy Saturday everyone! My husband and I recently met a few friends in Portugal, somewhere we have never been before. We had a really great time eating, shopping, seeing the sights and more eating! While waiting for a food tour to start in Lisbon, we found ourselves in a section of town with lots of jewelry supply shops and I fell in love with the blue and white cabochons that are reminiscent of the gorgeous tiles that adorned so many buildings and brought some home to play with. Here is what I made as a reminder of our great time in Portugal.

This project started with a GSL Half Scale Arch Front Room Box, which very easily assembles using a bit of tacky glue.

I had two really pretty blue mosaic scrapbook papers in my stash and chose the larger print one for the facade of my little display. I have found the easiest way to paper around an opening in one of these pieces is to glue the paper to the chipboard then use an exacto knife to cut the opening.

I chose the smaller blue mosaic paper for the back wall, a blue star print paper from Authentique Latest and Greatest for the ceiling and walls and a wood print from MME Necessities for the floor.

The display counter was made from a Bagatelle Box 1.5 by 4 inch which, once assembled was covered in a neutral gray paper from Tim Holtz. I glued five of the pretty Portuguese tile cabochons to the front of the box.

With the display counter in place, I glued on the front of the room box.

To make a focal piece for the front of the display I decoupaged a blue and white rabbit image from a piece of tissue paper that was also brought back from our vacation. I chose a GSL Arliss Frame cut down to size a bit to fit this project. I traced the interior of the frame onto cardboard, cut that out, primed it with white acrylic paint then decoupaged the rabbit image onto the cardboard circle using Mod Podge.

One of the things we tasted on our food tour was a famous Portuguese egg tart known as pastel de nata. I made a few out of polymer clay, baked them off then browned the edges with pastel chalks.

I painted the custard onto the center of the tart shells then added a drop of Glossy Accents to give them a shiny finish.

There were tins of fish for sale everywhere (and I brought home my fair share)! I made a few by painting dollhouse brick edges with silver acrylic paint and gluing on printed images shrunk down to size.