Make a little birdhouse in your soul

Hi Everyone, 

Today's post comes to you from a mistake.  Yep, I know it's hard to believe! I thought I might try doing something cute.  I painted my bitty birdhouse with little bitty flowers and then it sat on my desk.  It sat on my desk for almost two months.  I finally decided that if it had sat there for that long I needed to change it to make it more my style. 

Can we just talk about how stinkin' cute these birdhouses are?!  They are so tiny.  I covered mine with Charred Gold Embossing Powder.  Before it made it's way to the final project I did paint the front edge of the roof black.  

Once I had the house covered I was inspired by the They Might Be Giants song "Birdhouse in your Soul."  

My little dude has his birdhouse and the little soul sticker.

The Bird (my blue canary) got a very light layer of paint that I just rubbed on with my finger.  

He was then coated with Embossing Powder. 

He got some brown ink smooshed on him before he was placed on the music flashcard.  

The corner needed something to balance the piece and this Art Deco Corner was perfect.  I covered it with Embossing Powder and while it was still hot I pushed my art rag on it.  When I pulled it off it lifted some of the powder right off some areas and smushed it in other areas. It looks awesome and gives a great aged look to your pieces.  A bit of ink finished the corner. 

I hope this makes you as happy as it makes me.  Remember don't ever toss something you think you might have messed up.  You can always repaint, emboss, stamp, or use more paper to fix your experiments.

Jess.

GSLCuts items used:

Bird 

Birdhouse

Art Deco Corner

"A Smooth Sea" Canvas by Pam Bray with Xyron

 Hi!!! Pam here today on the  Gypsy Soul Laser Cut Blog sharing with you a 5" x 7" Canvas using some beautiful chipboard and Xyron products.

 To begin your canvas, run pieces of pattern paper and chipboard through the Xyron Creative Station. 

Adhere pattern paper to top of 5" x 7" canvas.

 Paint Flourished Frame-Connie with distress paint. 

Run through Xyron Creative Station. 

Adhere to top of Journal block. 

Run back through the Xyron Creative Station along with part of the Deco Frame.

 Paint the Deco Frame while on the Xyron adhesive sheet with distress ink.

 Adhere Deco Frame pieces to top of prepared canvas.

 Place prepared Flourished Frame Connie to top of pattern paper. 

Add prepared piece to canvas with pop dots.

 Run small pattern paper through the Xyron 1.5 Sticker Maker. 

Add to bottom of prepared frame paper.

 Glue Propellers to top of pattern paper with glue. 

Fussy cut out. 

Shape Propellers using tweezers.

Layer together to form flower with glue.

 Add Flower Propeller to top of canvas.

 Paint two birds form the Bird Shape Set with distress paint. 

Adhere to canvas.

 Paint Leafy Custer Base with distress ink. 

Adhere to canvas.

 Add small metal turtle to front.

 I hope I have encouraged you to get some of your favorite Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Chipboard out and create yourself a wonderful canvas. 

Also...try making a flower for your next project using the Propellers!!!

Remember to check out the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Store and Xyron products!

Also, make sure to check out Shanna post today. 

Gypsy Soul Lasercuts Supplies:

Flourish Frame Connie

Deco Art Frame - 6"

 Propellers

Bird Shape Set

Leafy Cluster Base

Supplies:

Xyron Creative Station

Xyron 1.5 Sticker Maker

Xyron Adhesive Runner

Graphic 45 By the Sea Collection

Ranger Distress Paint: Blueprint Sketch, Fired Brick, Antique Linen, Mowed Lawn, Walnut Stain

Red Enamel Dot

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Nevermore by Barb

I've been a fan of Edgar Allan Poe's work since I can remember. Of course, what's probably his most famous work, The Raven is at the top of my mind the closer we get to Halloween. I make it a point to read it every year and something in it always strikes anew. So, when I first saw Gina's Designs Gothic Chandeliers, I knew right where I was headed.

I began with a 9 x 12 canvas panel which I coated with purple acrylic paint. I used a stencil and sponged on acrylic paint for the clock. Then I slopped on a couple different colors of alcohol ink and some bright green acrylic paint. Slopping paint and ink on stuff is fun!

The chandelier was the biggest, most time-consuming part of the project. First, I masked off the ravens with blue painter's tape, then I coated the chandelier silver by pushing an ink pad all over it. Then I coated it with holographic embossing powder and heat set it. 

I used Amplify! in black to coat the birds. After it dried, I hit them with the heat gun - Amplify! sort of puffs up when it's heated so it gives the birds a little more dimension. I "lit" the candles with irRESISTibles in yellow, and added teardrop rhinestones to the chandelier to really make it shimmer.

The feathers, from the Feather Shape Set, were very easy. I simply pushed them against a black craft ink pad. Craft ink is a little thicker than water-based inks so it gives chipboard a really good coat with less of a mess than painting.

I finished things off with a tiny apothecary jar of "poison". The poison is really just green acrylic paint, a dropper full of green ink, and a bit of Pearl Ex for shimmer. I glued the bottle to the canvas.

Of course, no Poe tribute would be complete without the infamous "Nevermore" as "quothe" by The Raven. So, my last task was to stamp that on the canvas using rubber stamps from Blue Luna Press and black StazOn ink.

Gina's Designs Products Used

Gina's Designs Gothic Chandeliers

Feather Shape Set

Bird Shape Set

Other Products Used

Acrylic paint

Clock mask by Tim Holtz

Craft ink pad

Silver ink pad

StazOn ink pad

Holograph embossing powder

Rhinestones
irRESISTibles

Amplify!

Rubber stamp alphabet by:

Blue Luna Press