Yuletide Yearnings-A Peek-a-Boo Project

I love collecting vintage, found family photos or creepy clan cousin curiosities, they are not my relations but I adopt them when I find them especially if I am intrigued by some part of the photograph. Christmas time is a time of family gathering and remembering. These are the inspirations for this artwork.

1.  Gather Supplies.

2.  Adopt Your Found Family Photos or Creepy Clan Cousin Curiosities and Make Copies of Them.

3.  To Give a Further Vintage Look Spray with Water, Rubbing Alcohol and Hairspray do a Quick Dry With Heat Tool.

4.   Paint Frame Part of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych Arch Top Randomly with Golden Acrylic Paint-Quinacridone

Magenta and Jenkins Green.

5.  Paint Back Part of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych Arch Top Randomly with Metallique Wax-Aged Brass and Vintage Gold.

6.  Fill in Frame Part of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych Arch Top With Tim Holtz Distress Stain Abandoned Coral.

7.   Prepare Your Found Family Photos or Creepy Clan Cousin Curiosities and Glue to Back Part of Frame with UHU Gluestick.

8.  Paint Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Art Deco Corner Set, Randomly with Golden Acrylic Paint-Quinacridone

Magenta and Jenkins Green.

9.   Attach GSLC Art Deco Corner to Back of Top of GSLC Arch Frame.

10.                Add a Border of Washi Tape to Top of Photo Copies.

11.                Put a Thin Coat of One Step Crackle Finish Over Entire Prepared Back Frame Portion. Dry Overnight.

12.                Use Colored Pencils to Fill in Cracks. Seal With Matte Varnish.

13.                Paint GSLC Ginkgo leaves with  Scorching Yellow and Radiant Yellow Neon Paint and Golden Nickel Azo Yellow Paint.

14.                Paint Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Catweed Shape Set with Golden Chromium Oxide Green, Permanent Green Light, Verde Neon Paint, and ColorShift Green Flash Paint.

15.                Glue Front Frame to Back Part of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych Arch Top and Hold in Place With Clips.

16.                Use Leaf Punch to Cut Out Branches from Colorful Cardstock.

17.                Use Heavy Gel Matte Medium to Assemble Floral Embellishments, Pressing Into Place with Clips.

18.                Use Rust Texture Paste and Spices to add Patina and Tie Together Overall  Assemblage.

19.                Use Cloth Tape to Connect Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych Arch Top Frames Together, Cover Back with Decorative Paper if You are Keeping Triptych as One. I'll be Using Them as Separate Book Panels.

Some Final Thoughts.

Yuletide Blessings

-Lady Ravenhill

A new dawn breaks this

White Yuletide Morn’,

Light tickles scraps of paper and

Pine needles that still litter the floor.

The window sill a glitter

With a fresh sprinkle of snow,

And gentle Sun through frosted panes

Makes the Ol’ Mistletoe glow.

Do you remember when we lay

Beneath the Ol’ Holly tree,

And all the sweet nothings

You whispered to me?

Now the Ol’ Holly’s pointed leaves

Adorned with ribbons o’ red

To honor our Ancestors

Both alive, lost and dead.

This Yuletide Morn’ sees us through

The longest of winter nights,

And brings blessings of life anew

With each days growing light.

For with the springs’ bloomin’ tulips

And the new wobbly fauns,

The next Solstice will see

Our own new life dawn.

I found this song titled

Yearning Yuletide by Zans Harkov

He writes:

I use to DJ for the Cruise industry (Nearly 10 years) and got to see the world. As fun as that was, work was always difficult if you were out during the Holidays. I remember starring out at the most beautiful, picturesque scenes but, deep down I truly wished I was home. So this track is a dedication to all the hard working individuals that are out there working hard during the holidays.

 

May wherever you find yourself this Yuletide season my wishes for you are most clear.

an Everlasting Love that gently guides,

you to an Inner Peace that stays;

Joys to carry you when goodness hides,

and Hope always in better days.

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Triptych Arch Top, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Art Deco Corner Set, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Catweed Shape Set, Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts-Ginkgo Leaf Set (Coming Soon), Vintage Photos, Copies of Vintage Photos, Spray Bottle of Water and Rubbing Alcohol, Cheap Hairspray, Heat Tool, Golden Acrylic Paint-Quinacridone Magenta, Jenkins Green, Nickel Azo Yellow, Chromium Oxide Green, Permanent Green Light,  Scorching Yellow and Radiant Yellow, Verde Neon Paint, ColorShift Green Flash Paint, Metallique Wax-Aged Brass, Vintage Gold, Tim Holtz Distress Stain Abandoned Coral, Paintbrush, UHU Gluestick, Washi Tape, One Step Crackle Finish, Colored Pencils, Matte Varnish, Weldbond, Decorative Cardstock, Leaf Punch, Heavy Gel Matte Medium, Cloth Tape, Rust Texture Paste, Spices  

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!

 

 

Julia's Kitchen

I have always hugely admired Julia Child for so many reasons.  She was such an accomplished woman who is known and loved worldwide. She earned 3 Emmys, 4 James Beard Awards, a Peabody, a National Book award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

She donated her Cambridge, MA kitchen to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in 2001. It's where her TV show was frequently filmed.  The kitchen was her favorite room.  She described it as “the beating heart and social center of her household”.

I wanted to make a miniature version which was a big challenge as it's quite well known.  That meant I was going to have to hand build the cabinetry, but I didn't have to build the structure as it lives inside a GSL Deep Open Front Room Box which is available over at Alpha Stamps.

The room box is 10 inches wide by 10 inches tall by 5.5 inches deep which is a lot of space to work with.  The interior walls were painted with acrylic paint.  The floor is a sheet of DCWV Photoreal linen paper that reminded me of 1950s linoleum.  It took me a while to decide if I wanted the front facade and ceiling of the room box included.  I eventually decided to leave them off to allow natural light inside the room to show off all the tiny treasures. 

The kitchen window has blinds that I made by cutting a section of a manila folder the same width of a GSL 4 Panel Window then scoring it into pleats. You can't really see the sunny blue sky outside with the blinds on top but that's OK... I know it's always sunny outside Julia's kitchen window. 

Leaving off the ceiling and front facade left me with some tabs that needed to be covered. My solution was to paper the exterior all the way to the top of the tabs then glue 0.2 inch square bamboo craft sticks to the top of the tabs. Below those I glued lengths of 3/8 inch width x 0.078 inch craft sticks.

The finished effect looks like crown molding at the top of the room.

 The cat and artichoke artwork she displayed on her cabinets were reproduced and set into two of the GSL Connie's Mini Frames.

Here are some close ups showing the details and all the tiny kitchen ware, which were sourced both from my stash and Alpha Stamps.

This project was great fun and required me to plan ahead and learn a lot of new skills.  It will remind me of her every time I walk by it.  Thanks for stopping by!

GSL Products Used

Deep Open Front Room Box

Windows 4 Panel

Connie's Mini Frames

 

The Wooden Sky-A Peek-a-Boo Project

 I've always wanted to see the aurora borealis, and think maybe I have, but not in their grandeur of the far north like Alaska, Norway or Lapland, with its spectacular spectrum shades of colors on crystal clear night sky. This is the inspiration for this artwork.  

1.  Gather Supplies-I Ended Up Not Using the Birds on a Swing Set

2.  Use Ink Dauber/Blending Tool to Apply Alcohol Ink to Wooden Coasters.

3.   Add Neon Pink Ink, Blue Glitter Paint, and Hi-Lite Blue Acrylic Paint to Inked Coasters.

4.  Seal Everything With Matte Varnish.

5.  Use Various Green and Brown Golden Acrylic Paints on Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Framed Trees.

6.   Use Golden Heavy Gel Matte Medium to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Framed Trees to Painted Wooden Coasters. Weight Down to Form a Perfect Seal.

7.   Add Liquid Pearls in Bright Yellow to Look Like Stars in the Sky.

8.  Add "Snow" Highlights with Golden Fiber Paste and a Small Paintbrush.

 

 Some Final Thoughts.

There was a time long ago when much younger was I that we were visiting with the neighbors, the Leideckers, in our area of Pennsylvania, near the foot hills of our Appalachians. Their front porch was high above the creek that flowed in the valley, the night sky wide overhead where we saw a spectacular sight, there were colors not familiar or usual to this part of the land. It was illuminated much like the night that Wallis's Barn Caught on Fire, it was mysterious and magical and to this day I swear they were the northern lights. If this be true than I was glad to be chosen to see their glory.   

The Hunt For The Northern Lights

-Lesley Elaine Greenwood

Snowy white fox of the Arctic,

was it your brush-like tail

that sprayed snow, like crystal sparks,

adorning the dark sky with a shimmering veil?

Are you the Northern Lights?

Flourishing forest fungi,

was it your luminescent glow

that ignited fires across the frozen North,

covering the woodland floor, so very long ago?

Are you the Northern Lights?

Plentiful waters of Lapland

was it the light falling into your seas,

that reflected back off the fishes shiny, wet scales

into the streams of the sky? If so please,

Are you the Northern lights?

Or was it the solar winds that, colliding with earth's gasses,

started to glow, creating streamers in their masses?

A magnificent array of colours. Reds, greens, violets, blues,

A mystical curtain of  bright celestial hues.

Constantly in motion.

A beautiful blaze of auroral displays

Around Heaven's swirling ocean.

AURORA BOREALIS !

Trailing bands of luminous  plasma,

Spellbinding, magical sights.

A plethora of colourful waves from the  sun.

Was He the creator of the wonderful

Northern Lights?

Supplies:  Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Framed Trees, Square Wooden Coasters, Alcohol Inks, Ink Dauber/Blending Tool,  Neon Pink Ink, Blue Glitter Paint, Hi-Lite Blue Acrylic Paint, Matte Varnish, Various Green and Brown Golden Acrylic Paints, Paintbrush, Golden Heavy Gel Matte Medium, Liquid Pearls Bright Yellow, Golden Fiber Paste

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!