Santos Doll by Rachel Harries

 

This week I have used the Santos Doll Kit I started off painting the elements with white gesso, I wouldnt ordinarily gesso before assembly but i was very mindful not to gesso any of the areas that could swell with the moisture from the gesso.

I took some cardstock to give me a little hair and drew the features I wanted on the face and hair. I then cut the hair out and adhered it to the head of the santos doll.

I then painted the face body and arms before fixing together with some twine as I didnt have any brads to hand.

I then assembled the base and popped the body in place.

I then added a Crown to which I added some little self adhesive balls and a little gold wax, I also added a little muslin to the base and some resin pieces that seemed in keeping with the doll .

The Baroness of the Bramble Patch-A Peek-a-Boo Project

This is Jon David Lowe for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, July in the farmland and foothills of rural Pennsylvania is black raspberry pickin' season and gardens are full of fresh vegetables. It was a also the time in my youth that I read 53 books in one summer. One that I remember vividly is "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett and later "The Secret Life of Bees" and "The Mermaid Chair" by Sue Monk Kidd. I'm sad to say that I have lost my love of reading. These are the inspirations of this artwork.

1.  Gather Supplies-I did not use Creepy Tree 5 Inch.

2.   Use Cosmic Shimmer Lava Paste by adding  Chili Powder, Nutmeg, and Green and Gold Mica Powders Adding Just Enough Water to Keep Paint Like Consistency.

3.  Spread on Upper Portion of GSLC Arch Top Triptych 8 Inch Frame With a Small Plastic Palette Knife.

4.  Cure With a Heating Tool.

5.  Use TH Rusty Hinge Distress Stain Distress Stains to add Patina to Cured Frames Using a Paintbrush.

6.  Look for Interesting Magazine Pictures to Use as Focal Points-I Found a Woman's Face and an Arched Passageway.

7.  Glue Arch Passageway to Top Portion of Back of GSLC Arch and  Image of Woman Face on Bottom Portion with Weldbond.

8.  Attach Front Frame to Back Portion of GSLC Arch Triptych with Weldbond and Secure with Clasps.

9.  I am Using GSLC Honeycomb & Queen Bees ATC Sized, GSLC Acorn Border Set, and GSLC Queen Anne's Lace, I Painted for a Previous Project Using a Variety of Acrylic Paints and Fussy Cut Flowers and Butterflies to Create a Border Around  Woman's Face.

10.                I Used, DecoArt One Step Crackle Finish and DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze to Layer my Border.

11.                Make a wash Out of Diluted, Gray and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold Acrylic Paint.

12.                Add Clear Stickers of Birds, Butterflies and Flowers with DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze.

13.                When Fully Dry use Tweezers to  Glue Flat Back Rhinestone Jewels to Border Using Weldbond.

Some Final Thoughts.

All of the books I mentioned have strong main female characters as does July in America. One of the symbols of our nation is the Statue of Liberty, representing Freedom and Justice. For this reason I always thought July was named after a woman but it was not. July was named after Julius Cesar but for me it will always have a different meaning and origin story. The Image on this art piece pays homage to all of these strong women.

 My momma was one of the strongest women I knew but was she humble in her demure but to us she was queen of our homestead. They say a baroness is the lowest of five noble classes so that would make my momma, the  baroness of our bramble patch. She was a master gardener and knew all the best raspberry patches, she even remembered that next to Luther's orchard, closest to yellow delicious tree, were a rare white raspberry bush, I didn't have the heart to tell her I thought they were more of a yellow variety.

 She also said she heard there were red raspberry that grew on the dirt farm road just past our little white church on the hill,  heading towards Touchshay's that is  mentioned in Waiting For Robins. She said they would be found near the largest abounded barn in the lowlands but to be extra careful because the fields would be overgrown, and rattlers and copperheads love to bask in the early morning sun. if we were successful in our berry picking we could have a patriotic cobbler complete with red white and blue raspberries.

 "It  was the sweetest, most mysterious-looking place any one could imagine. The high wall which shut it in were covered with leafless stems of climbing poses, which were so thick they were matted together."  The Secret Garden

 "Most People don't have any idea about all the complicated life  going on inside a hive. Bee have a secret life we don't know anything about." The Secret Life of Bees

 "You can go other places, all right-you can live on the other side of the world, but you can't ever leave home"

The Mermaid Chair

Supplies:  GSLC Honeycomb & Queen Bees ATC Sized, GSLC Acorn Border Set, GSLC Queen Anne's Lace, GSLC Arch Top Triptych 8 Inch, Cosmic Shimmer Lava Paste, Chili Powder, Nutmeg, Gold and Green Mica Powder, Small Plastic Palette Knife, Heating Tool, TH Rusty Hinge Distress Stain, Paintbrush, Magazine Pictures, Scissors, Weldbond, DecoArt One Step Crackle Finish, DecoArt Triple Thick Gloss Glaze, Glossy Accent Gloss Finish, Fussy Cut Flowers and Butterflies, Acrylic Paint Gray and Quinacridone Nickel Azo Gold, Spray Bottle of Water, Paintbrush, Clear Stickers of Birds, Butterflies and Flowers, Tweezers, Flat Back Rhinestone Jewels

     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!

Mini canvas with Deco elephant

 Greetings! This is Sneha with a new post for GSL cut design team. And today I am here with a mini canvas  imitating one of the finest memories of my childhood. During the summers of late primary school, I used love watching an old Indian  movie from my parents age which showed love and empathy towards animals. This movies was a real oldie but left an enduring impression on me. This weekend I was recollecting the memories of it and thought of portraying my sentiments on canvas. 

Have a look....

Since the theme of the canvas is based on a movie, I have used a movie strip chipboard.  I have also used elephant chipboard as the center point as It  symbolizes staying calm and yet standing  strong in every situation of life, which was the epilogue of the movie too. You will also observe that this canvas has a fancy fairy tale kind of a look with bright colors with lots of metallic gold accompanied by few big and bold blings here and there.


So the process of making of it is very simple and easy to follow in the form of picture tutorial.... And this time I am playing with mould pieces only as other elements.

The links to the products used from GSLCut store are provided towards the end of the post, please do click the link to find them on the store website.


This is a 6 × 6 mini flat canvas and as usual I have prepared the canvas by adding a generous coating of gesso and dried it with heat.  Since I like working with canvas most of the time I like to prepare them ahead of any project as it makes my life easy. They come in handy when you are in a rush to make any project. So in the next picture tutorial you will see the next step of the process.

In this one I have added a modelling paste via Stencil. Instead of adding modeling paste here and there, I have added paste on one diagonal side of canvas.... Just to try something different this time...

And then added some home made rough texture paste on some parts of the other half other diagonal. And started splashing colors of my choices. Here I have used some Yellow and Gold rush colors.

Then I added some texture paste again using messy script Stencil on the middle  areas of the diagonal and before the texture paste dry I added some rusty gold or vintage gold embossing powder over it and using heat dry tool embossed the entire powder sprinkled over the scripted portion.

 Since I was sitting near the blow fan ( as it too hot here in Massachusetts now), the embossing powder was all over the extra areas too but I left it like that a little messy. And I suggest you can leave this kind of messy situations in your projects sometimes  because you  won't be able to make a difference once the layout is completed. Rather it will  enhance the overall look of the project😊

Further I added some stamps here and there. I have used very old stamps from Inkadinkado, SORRY I don't have info about this one because it's very old bought and no info on the product.

Now I started preparing my elements. I applied gesso on the chipboards and the pre-made mould pieces. Thereafter I sprayed colors on some mould pieces and added embossing powder too,  some and I left some with white base. Afterwards I rubbed some waxes here and there on both chipboards and mould pieces.

 

In mean while I changed colors of the wings mould peices by redoing it with gesso and rubbing again with waxes.

And I also added a lot of teal color and teal embossing powder on the film strip chipboard.

Finally after preparing the elements I started assembling them together using matte gel medium and let them dry completely before handling them further.

 

 And after achieving the layout to my satisfaction I added some big and small blings to complete the look of the areas which look dead ended. And also added some rush gold color in the background to complete the flow of the layout.

So here is the picture of the complete canvas.  And to say the deco elephant chipboard from GSL cut is  heart stealer....I love it so much....

The chipboards from GSL cut are super easy to work with and are details are very fine and amazing.... you can use colors on them or add waxes or embosse them, use any thing on them they always come out winner....love them... 

The products that I have used from GSL cut  store are:

1. Deco elephant chipboard  :D22R

2. Film strip mini sheets :D12J

The other products used are

6×6 mini flat canvas bought from local craft store

Lindys sprays, magicals and shakers

Little birdie spray 

Prima marketing moulds

Little birdie waxes

Blings 

Stencils bought from amazon.

Stamps

Texture paste 

Modeling paste 

Gesso

I hope you all like it and feel inspired to share some of the finest memory of your chilhood..

Thank you all!