Tags in a Box by Trish Alger!

Hello there, this is Trish Alger. I'm so excited to be a Guest Designer this month for Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  Here is my steampunk inspired tags in a box project:

GSLCuts has the most amazing chipboard elements. Great themes, with intricate detail, that are a fabulous springboard for our creativity. I'm in love with GSLCuts steampunk selection. Gears, gears, and more gears - delicate, lacy gear borders, chunky gear shapes, and lovely Victorian pieces to pair with. 

I needed some feminine gifts. The kind that had laborious value, not cost. In the project I chose, each woman can receive her own extra-large tag (with sentiment) to take home. I set the challenge to create my own metal gears out of chipboard, rather than hunt through my metal stash. Other than a few metal brads, I succeeded. I kept my palette limited to brown tones, ivory, black, and rusty gear metallics. 

Let's look through the steps of the tutorial.  You'll find the supply list at the end. Each piece was gessoed in black...

Or white...

 

Or a coat of iridescent medium mixed with acrylic medium...

 

Here are the wings closer...

(Do yourself a favor and remove any lingering bits from the holes before covering it in medium.)

Some unbleached titanium for the dressforms...

Next I added some rust paint over the vanilla doily edges and cut to fit in the shape of a corset.

 

And some copper for the beautiful banner...

 

Then a bit of unbleached titanium over the letters...

A closer view...

 

Time to mix paint with acrylic medium and add some color...

Mixtures...

Black gessoed tag, painted in a leather color...

White gessoed tag, painted in another leather tone...

 

I printed the Pocket Pages sentiments onto the vanilla linen paper and trimmed to allow six for the backs of the tags in the box. They were adhered with the acrylic medium.

 The inside of the box were gessoed black. The outside was painted with copper and the corset images (printed on vanilla linen paper) were adhered with acrylic medium. Doily edges were deconstructed to adhere with acrylic medium around the edges like a frame.

The gear sheet, painted with rust, copper, and black...

A second view...

And a third view...

Here are the individual tags completed:

Tag 1...

Tag 2...

Tag 3...

Tag 4...

Tag 5...

  Tag 6...

 

And the tag for the front of the box...

 

Here is the entire box filled with the completed tags:

 

 I realized as I assembled the completed sides for box that I needed to be extra aware of the materials in the tab areas. That includes paper, paint, and mediums. Lots of sanding otherwise.

 

 Well, I had a lot of fun and it made me happy. What happiness are you creating today? Please let us know you were here and what you thought of my box of tags.

Ciao for now,

-Trish Alger

justchickenscratch.com

My ingredient list:

GSLCuts:

Tags in a Box Display  

Dressform Tags  

Texture Sheet Gears  

Cardstock Doily Set Steampunk  

Gears Border and Corners (will be available soon!)

Word Ribbons 1  

Victorian Silhouette Frames  

Gears Shape Set  

Dressforms & Wings Shape Set  

Clock Hands Shape Set  

Other Supplies:

Liquitex 

-Black Gesso

-Basic Burnt Sienna

-Gloss Acrylic Medium and Varnish

-Heavy Body Acrylic Unbleached Titanium 

Golden Paints

-Fluid Acrylic Burnt Sienna

-Glaze Metallic Copper Light

Martha Stewart

-Metallic Acrylic Rust, Gloss Black, and Copper

-White Gesso

AlteredPages.com

-Victorian Edges Rubber Stamp

-Steampunk and Pocket Pages digital images

Eclectic Products

-E6000

Stewart Superior

-Palette Hybrid Inkpad Burnt Sienna

Stampin' Up

-Waffle Paper Brown

Winsor & Newton

-Iridescent Medium 

Vanilla linen paper 

Historical images free of copywrite

Assorted Ephemera

"Love Never Dies" by Trish

Not everyone is enamored of Valentine's Day. So, for those of you with a great antipathy to the chubby purveyor of love, Cupid; here is my tongue-in-cheek diorama for you:

Have fun reading through the steps. There is also a supply list at the end.

I chose this sturdy and versatile ATC Shrine- Wrought Iron from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.  I needed to see if my parts would fit.  I had a plastic skeleton left from Halloween decorations that fit just right...well, minus two limbs.  

 Here is the shrine in exploded view:

 

  I decided to use black gesso on each piece.

 

  Everything gets a second coat.

 

  Now for some texture! The inside back panel gets fiber paste. I just kept thinking about rotting clothing, etc...

  And the side panels...this modeling paste is considerably stiffer and spreads on nicely.

 

  You can see the texture in this closer view:

 

  Let's not forget the gate door. I barely scraped the paste in places.

 

  While this dries, lets back foil the Love sign.

 

  It looks lovely :)

 

  While we are at it, let's make a foil back for the Wings.

 

 Here it is under the wings:

 

 Now the wings need some treatment. I put a light coat of glaze over the wings to hold the soft glitter.

 

 While the wings dry let's see how the box shrine will look. Remember to keep the product away from the tab areas. I want it to fit.  The gesso did make the fit a little snugger. Didn't have to force it at all.

 It looked so beautiful, I had to take a closer look:

 

 Now for my creepy, crypt patina. I used four separate colors to achieve what I was after.

 The back panel with fiber paste gets the treatment first.

 Use the these four colors in this order--Mud Puddle, Terra Cotta, Raw Sienna, then Navy Blue.

 

The sides and gate as well.

 You can see the contrast in the texture as black gesso is carefully sponged on in places:

 

 I added an antique varnish when the four layers were dried.

 Let's not forget the wrought iron gate!

 We are making some progress. I made sure to keep the plugs in through the entire process. (The panels with the plugs hold the gate). 

 Let's attach the sign to the Victorian Corner

 Here it is together with the sign attached. I mixed together a few more paints to add a lighter moss color sponged on the outside a few places:

 My shrine resident (AKA Mr. Skeleton), needed to pledge his undying (Haha) devotion with a boing-boing heart. Here's the Scalloped Heart: 

  Add a spring inside a broken rib cage:

 

 My love of glitter glue is evident in the heart eyes and the border around the scalloped heart. My crypt resident needs to be attached to the bottom panel.  I know it looks bad...

 

  Then the wings and red foil backing. I'm really starting to feel bad about this guy.

  Let's put the last panel in and add some glue gun cobwebs.

 

 Here is your shrine to a humorous, macabre Valentine's Day.

 

 I had so much fun creating my fun: Love Never Dies.

I'd love to hear if you make something similar. Please leave a message on the blog. 

Ciao for now,

-Trish

Here is my ingredient list:

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Products--  

ATC Shrine- Wrought Iron 

Build A Layout Lovebirds - the Love Sign & Scalloped Heart

Dressforms & Wings Shape Set  

Victorian Corners 1 

 

Other Products Used:

Kaisercraft--

-- Mud Puddle, Terra Cotta, Raw Sienna, & Navy Blue, Cool Grey, Grass Green.  

Jaquard

--Lumiere, Crimson

Martha Stewart

--Black

AlteredPages.com

--Darice Red Foil Tape

Eclectic Products

--E6000

Faber Castell

--Glaze

Martha Stewart

--Tinsel Glitter, Crystal

Delta Creamcoat

--Instant Age Varnish

Liquitex

--Black Gesso

--Blended Fibers

--Modeling Paste

Ranger

--Stickles, red