'His Collection' Shadow Box

Hello crafty friends!  Today on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog I have a masculine-themed shadow box to share with you!  I used the 3 Story House and packed it to the rafters with bits and pieces.

Since I suspected the items would be heavy, I glued the pieces together and reinforced all the joints with linen hinging tape.

I gesso'd the box with black, then decided to use paper anyway.

I don't have in-progress photos of the papering, but there wasn't anything unique about it.  I measured, adhered with Mod Podge, and allowed to dry. I sanded the edges and used watered-down black acrylic paint to dirty up the edges and sides.

I finished the interior edges with black Dresden trim.

The items are attached with E-6000 or other heavy duty glue.

Thanks for your visit today!  I hope we give you a lot of inspiration here on the blog!


Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Used
3 Story House #SB040214001

Other Supplies Used
Tim Holtz paper
Black Dresden trim
Mod Podge
Black acrylic paint
Ranger Matte Varnish
E-6000

The Crows Clock by Nichola

Clocks have always fascinated me. Mantle clocks, wall clocks, clock towers, grandfather clocks. They give measure to the passing of time, keep us in order, but there's something quite mystical about them too.  

I thought of making a cuckoo clock for a while. Shortly after making the 'Goblin Throne' last month, a crow perched outside my window and nudged me to make a 'Crow's Clock' instead of a clock of the cuckoo variety. Who am I to argue with a crow?

The base of the clock is one of my favourite products from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, the 3 Story House. It's a great size to work with and I think it's practically perfect as a clock body. I carved out an arch on the front and framed it with an Reliquary - Tower Top.

Lace and Shell Border Sticks are used as edge embellishments and shingles for the roof.  For the
Little Bird House at the top, I used Dresden borders to repeat the patterned edge. At the tippy top you can see a wooden round thing... that's a vintage French lottery number, but don't worry if you don't have one of those in your stash, you could easily trade it out for one of the pieces from the Faux Typewriter Keys Symbol Set. Those cute leafy frame and filigree bits are these Fanciful Elements.

The clock does work and I've used the mechanism from the Desk Clock Standard. I did replace the hand with this Clock Hands Shape Set and swapped out the numbers with a frame from this Hanging Clock Set. Totally not necessary to replace all those parts, but I like the way all these pieces fit together.

Cuckoo clocks have weights in the shape of pine cones that drive the clock. Although my clock isn't weight driven, I wanted to include this traditional element by adding some real pine cones on a length of chain, along with some oak leaf charms.

 

This is a such a great project if you like adding embellishments and borders and you could go totally over the top if you wanted. If you'd like to make your own, check out my video that tells "The Tale of the Crow's Clock" and how it came together. 

Here are the supplies I used in my Crow's Clock

3 Story House

Reliquary - Tower Top.

Desk Clock Standard

Clock Hands Shape Set

Hanging Clock Set

Border Sticks 

Little Bird House

Faux Typewriter Keys Symbol Set *alternative suggestion*

Fanciful Elements

Black Dresden Trims

Old music papers

Brass chain and charms
Masking Tape
Paint
Glue

Three Story Tudor House - Part 2

Welcome back! Today I'm going to show you part two of the 3 Story Tudor House we've been building. Last week I showed you how to lay down the basics for the inside and today we'll be working on the outside. If you missed last week or need the materials list, check out Part 1

Part 2

It's beneficial to do some image searches to see the different kind of designs people in the Tudor period used on their houses. Traditionally, it involves wooden planks painted black on a white background on the house. Planks can be straight up and down, angled, criss-crossed, etc. It's up to you to decide what sort of design you want to build upon for your project. While black is traditional, I do tend to make my planks a very dark brown because I like the look of it better in the long run. Various shades of antique white and browns make it look more aged, which is the look I generally go for. I recommend a Google image search and a perusal of Pinterest to find images you like.

This section mostly involves cutting wooden stir sticks to fit the various designs you've chosen to then glue down onto the base. What you want to do is cover the slots and tabs with the stir sticks so that they're completely hidden. For ease and quickness, I used hot glue to attach each plank, but you can also use PVA glue.

I added extra cross sections between each floor to add more detail. I also added planks above and below each window for more depth.

I painted each plank black, making sure to get the sides of each one, so it will look pretty messy after this, but don't worry because it will quickly be covered and look neat and tidy in the end.

The next step is messy but fun. Dig out your spackle and a stir stick for application. What you're going to do is cover the “white” bits in between all the wooden planks with spackle. This process is very much a “learn as you go” technique. You want to fill it up so that you're not seeing the base any more, but you don't want to go any higher than the planks. You can opt for smooth application or muck it up a bit for some more detail that the paint will pick up nicely later.

After the spackle is laid and cured (I believe my bin of spackle said to wait 24 hours before painting), you can lay down a layer of antique white paint all over each bit of spackle.

Then, I took some burnt umber paint and went over the black planks as neatly as possible. Again, this is just my own preference, you can leave yours black and more traditional if you like.

I mixed several drops of Game Ink: Sepia in a styrofoam cup and added water until I liked the colour I'd achieved. Using a paint brush for application, I went around the edges of each section and let it dry. Then, I covered the remaining parts of the section with the same ink. This is another personal preference task – I did it, because I liked what I saw with the outcome, but obviously you don't have to.

Adding more ink to the mix to create a much darker wash, I went around the edges of each section again. I do this to make the house look more aged and rough – if you want a newer or traditional look, skip this part. 

That's it for this weeks installment of the Three Story Tudor House, check back next Friday for Part 3 (and possibly the final part) of this tutorial where I'll show you how to finish the roof!

-Jess

Three Story Tudor House - Part 1

Hello all! I'm Jess and I'll be your tutorial-writer today! I'm brand spankin' new to the Design Team and my focus is on miniatures of all scales and more "different" things. 

My project involves the Three Story House from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts. We'll be transforming it into a Tudor home through my next couple of blog posts, so check back next Friday for Part 2!

Materials List

*3 Story House from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

*6 Panel Windows lrg/md from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

*Shingle Strips from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

*Wooden Coffee Stir Sticks

*Uhu Glue Sticks

*Popsicle Sticks

*Hot Glue sticks

*PVA Glue

*Acrylic Paint: Black, Cinnamon, Navy Blue, Antique White, White, Burnt Umber

*Recollections Tattered & Worn Scrapbook paper

*Polyfilla Spackling Compound

*Game Ink: Sepia

Tools

*Scissors

*Hot Glue Gun

*Paper Towel

*Paint Brushes

Part 1

Assemble the 3 Story house completely (minus the roof), using PVA glue to hold the tabs together.

Using scissors to cut popsicle sticks, I laid down a wood floor. I marked the length of the floor on each stick using a pencil and laid it in a “One-Two” pattern. The first stick I cut to the length of the whole floor, the second I cut in two (at random intervals). I repeat this process until the entire floor is covered in wooden sticks. I've used this method on all three floors.

I recommend holding both ends of the popsicle sticks as you cut them or the ends will go flying, oft' never to be seen again or until your toddler locates them later.

To fasten the floorboards you've created, you can cheat like I did and use your hot glue gun, or you can lay down a layer of PVA glue.

If you plan on adding the windows, what I did was use a (very!) sharp craft knife to cut out the shapes. You can do this before or after the wallpaper, it doesn't make much difference as you'll be covering any mess-ups with the window itself in the end (not yet!).

I like to do the floors before installing wallpaper to allow for some mess-ups. I've used three different patterns from the Recollections Worn collection as wallpaper. To glue it to the walls, I used Uhu sticks, but in the past I've also used rubber cement, which also works very nicely. I chose 3 “tudor-esque” patterns to try and fit the soon-to-be outside of the building.

Once the wallpaper is down, you can add in the baseboards using wooden stir sticks. I did not pre-paint mine, but if you're a stickler for neatness, it's likely the better option. At this point I also placed the inside window portions (I did paint these first).

I then painted the floorboards with a thin coat of burnt umber paint and let it dry completely. After it's dry, I dry brushed some white paint over top of the brown to give it a whitewashed look.

And that's it for today's installment of the 3 Story Tudor, check back next Friday for Part 2!

-Jess

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Products Used:

3 Story House

Shingle Strips (coming soon!)

Windows 6 Panel 

Twelve Days of Christmas by Dianna

Hi Everyone, Dianna here with my first holiday project of the Season - Gypsy Soul's 3 Story House and Graphic 45's Twelve Day's of Christmas.  I decided to create all twelve days within the house. 

The house comes in eight pieces. I suggest doing a dry run and pre-assemble prior to gluing or painting. I used white gesso, then papered and glued.  After papering, I then used gesso again to create an aged appearance.

I decided to used the top floor to house the live stock.  I fussy cut the out all the Graphic 45's Twelve Day's shapes. I used greenery and a nest to glue the shapes in place.

 I placed Gypsy Soul Chandelier on the back wall after I painted it white and used gold Stickles.  The piper is standing on a drum from an old Christmas sprig.  Small scrap chipboard pieces were used to help the lords leap and ladies dance.  Gold beads were ap[plied to add light to the inside of the house.

I hinged the twelve days and the swan with scrap chipboard so that they would stand up on their own. The Gypsy Soul frame was fussy cut out of the collage frame birds and ivy,  painted gold and gold Stickles was used to create bling. I fussy cut the calling birds and turtle doves and glued the milking maid to the greenery. 

I fussy cut out the large twelve days of Christmas to place on the back of the house.  I fussy cut Collage Frame Birds & Ivy frame out and glued one of the calling birds to create a picture. 

I used a 1-inch punch to punch a lot of circles using kraft paper and Graphic 45's "My turtle dove". I scored the circle at 1/4 and then scored at two angles. I then glued the 1/4 angle to the roof.  After, I glued all of those circles and used gesso to created snow.  

Thank you for looking!

Items Used

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts

Chandeliers

3 Story House

collage frame birds & ivy

Other Items

Graphic 45

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Christmas Carol House with Guest Designer Kathy Clement

Hello, Friends! Well, Thanksgiving is behind us, and now it's time to dig in and create for Christmas! I'm excited about the month ahead for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that I have been invited to create four projects using scrumptious laser cut chipboard from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts! This chipboard is sooooo yummy, as you will see in today's project. I made a Christmas Carol House using loads of Gypsy Soul Lasercuts, Graphic 45 "A Christmas Carol" papers and lots of sparklies and pretties!! 

  

This is one of those projects that I wish you could see in person, because it is so much cooler than the pictures show. I've never made anything quite like this before, and boy oh boy, was it fun!

 

I began by painting the 3 Story House with a coat of white gesso followed by a swish of Iced Spruce Distress Paint. Next, I sponged all the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. After that, I cut my Graphic 45 "A Christmas Carol" papers to fit each floor and the inside and outside of the pieces. I felt it was easier to decorate the house before building it. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to put the house together using just a touch of Art Institute Dries Clear Glue. The pieces are dovetailed, so they fit together seamlessly.  

 

Here's what the house looked like in process, so you can see how I combined my papers. Nothing is glued down here yet. The next step was to choose and prepare my chipboard pieces. Here's a list with links to the chipboard I selected:

• Snowflake Border
• Snowflake Shape Set
• Stars and Flourishes Border and Corner Set
• Winter Shape Set
• Victorian Silhouette Frames
• 3 Story House

I wanted my stars and snowflakes to glitter and shine, so instead of painting them, I treated them with Shabby Frantage Embossing Powder in shades of white and blue. This opaque powder contains little flecks of gold, color and glitter and adds a wonderful vintage finish to chipboard. Here's what that 

process looked like.

  

I tapped my chipboard pieces with Versamark Ink. Really lay it on nice and thick!

  

Use a funnel tray or piece of clean paper and pour a thick layer of the embossing powder over the prepared chipboard. Press it down lightly with your fingertips, then tap off the excess and put it back in the bottle. Then, heat emboss. Easy peasy...and you don't have to wait for paint to dry!

 

For the roof, I used DecoArt Crackle Texture Paste and let it cure overnight. I painted it with a thin layer of Clear Rock Candy Distress Paint and while that was still wet, I sprinkled it with Stampendous Shaved Ice Flakes. I love how it glistens just like a snow topped roof!

  

Each floor of the house features a wintry holiday scene. And just look how those embossed snowflakes glisten! 

  

The "ground floor" uses a tree from the Winter Shape set along with a trio of altered bottle brush trees, a snowflake that I cut in half, and cutie pie snow angel. The floor is covered with paper, Spanish Moss, Shaved Ice, and some Prima Winter Berries. I let the embossed chipboard stars and snowflakes form a frame around this pretty winter scene. The bottle brush trees are mounted on altered thread spools to achieve varying heights. 

 

I used the star border as a base for my arrangement of flowers, pine cones, jingle bells and berries. It adds such a festive feeling!

 

This image from the 8x8 Christmas Carol pad fit perfectly inside this Victorian Man and Woman frame! I simply painted the frame black, then dry brushed it here and there with a little Iced Spruce Distress paint.

  

The "attic" is lit with Tim Holtz' mini lantern, and yes, it really lights up! Here's a tip: Drill the hole for your wiring BEFORE you assemble the house. Some of us have to learn that the hard way! LOL  

A side view, so you can see the fun metal feet and the decorated sides. 

  

 And another side view. Isn't it fun?

  

 And one more peek at that snow topped roof!

  

I'd like to thank Gina at Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts for giving me the opportunity to be a guest designer. I hope you enjoyed your tour of this Christmas Carol House. I'll be back next Wednesday with more ideas. In the meantime, you should check out the online store. It's amazing! Thanks for stopping by!

Cheerio,

Kathy