Circus Themed Craft Organizer

Hello everyone, happy Saturday! I want to share a fun circus themed organizer I just finished using the GSLRotating Hobby Organizer. The finished size is a generous 13 by 10.5 by 9 inches. I can't wait to start using it in my craft room! Let me walk you through the assembly.

 

I found all of the drawer pieces and set them aside. There are four drawers total, two for each side of the organizer.

I located the four largest pieces, the largest being the base of the organizer. I glued the two 10 x 9.75 and the 8.75 x 6.25 inch pieces together then into the base piece using tacky glue.

 The drawer spaces look like this. They have a front (flat) and back (notched) side.

When they are glued into place, they make the slots for the drawers.

There are two pieces that measure 6 inches and have both a flat top and bottom. These get glued into place to enclose the top of the organizer, leaving you with two storage spaces up there.

 The side pockets are glued in place next.

 Next, glue the four drawers together and take a minute to admire your accomplishment!

The papers I used were from both the Graphic 45 Le Cirque and Mother Goose collections and the Bo Bunny Carnival collection. They were super easy to cut to measure as the organizer is made from a series of rectangles. I inked the edges of the paper with vintage photo Distress Ink to soften the look.

 

I knew I wanted to have fun knobs for the drawers and decided to make my own. Using a utility knife, I cut some miniature plastic animals in half then drilled a hole to insert a screw. I used a small piece of wood with a hole drilled in it to function as a washer.

Here's a photo of an installed knob, looking down into a drawer.  I considered using four different animal fronts for the knobs but decided it would be more fun to have the front end of an animal on one side and the back end directly opposite on the other.

The lazy susan hardware is included with the organizer and was easy to attach to the bottom with Crazy Glue.

T0 finish off the circus theme, I glued some fun animal figures from BoBunny's Carnival Noteworthy collection.

 Thanks for stopping by!

 

Gypsy Soul Laser Items Used

Rotating Hobby Organizer

Other Items Used

Graphic 45 paper -Le Cirque & Mother Goose

BoBunny paper - Carnival & Carnival Noteworthy animal cutouts

Tacky glue

Super glue

Plastic circus animals

Screws & woodscraps

Distress Ink

VHS Cassette Tape Rental in Miniature

I was recently told that VHS rental is coming back to fashion. My first reaction was - I need to celebrate this in miniature! I've been eyeing the GSL Bookcase 1 to 12 and decided it was perfect. 

As with all of my projects, I start by laying out all the pieces to see how everything fits together. This one is super simple to figure out.

I decided to give the inside of my bookcase a neutral finish to make the shelf contents stand out so I gave the inside surfaces a coat of gesso as primer, followed by a coat of off-white acrylic paint.

Once dry, the bookcase was assembled using tacky glue. I used rubber bands to hold everything in place while the glue dries. Once dry, I gave the exterior a coat of gesso followed by a bright red acrylic paint finish.

The GSL Filmstrip Mini Sheets made the perfect décor for the sides of the case. I gave each one a coat of black acrylic paint.

Next came the fun part! Searching for images of some classic movie posters that I resized to perfectly fit inside the filmstrip openings.

Once assembled, they were glued onto the sides of the case.

To make the tapes, I started with dollhouse construction bricks I've had in my stash forever. If you aren't able to find them, you could also use scraps of wood cut to size. I painted the bricks black to mimic a tape cassette. Searching for images was fun. I was surprised how many VHS tape covers I was able to find. I adjusted the size for print, cut them out then used a scoring board to make the creases nice and crisp then glued them onto the bricks.

I knew I wanted to have some candy and popcorn on the top shelf because every VHS rental place I've ever been to sold to-go movie snacks. The popcorn box and Snickers display were free printable miniatures I found online. Same for the M&M's. To make a display case for the M&M's, I cut a tongue depressor and some coffee stirrers to size, painted them red then glued them together with tacky glue. The little Snickers and M&M's packages each got a small piece of coffee stirrer glued inside as a filler. 

Final touches include a Starship Enterprise that started life as a Hallmark mini ornament, a ceramic popcorn bucket from my stash of miniatures and a Be Kind Rewind sign made from cardstock glued to one of those dollhouse bricks to make it stand up.

 Thanks for stopping by!

Gypsy Soul Laser Items Used

Bookcase 1 to 12

Filmstrip Mini Sheets

Other Items Used

Gesso

Acrylic paint

Tacky glue

Printed images

Scoring mat

Dollhouse bricks or wood scraps cut to size

Wooden tongue depressor
Wooden coffee stir sticks
Bits and bobs

A Very Vintage Christmas Ornament

Hi everyone!  Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you all are enjoying your holiday and time with family and friends. Barbara here with a pretty quick and easy Christmas ornament using a recycled tuna can and some Gina's Designs Lasercuts chippies to make it extra special. Don't forget, we will be changing our name to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts December 1!

Cut away Santa's sleigh and one reindeer from the border. Save remaining border for another project.

Use Intense blocks and water brush to color Santa, his sleigh, and reindeer.

Add glitter glue to the sleigh and reindeer antlers and nose. Use silver pearl pen to add a metallic look to the bottom of the sleigh.  Set aside to dry.

Cut two circles, one larger than the printed circle, to fit inside the tuna can.

Adhere the two circles together and glue to the inside bottom of the can.

Add a bit of snowflake paste to the bottom of the can, just beneath the printed scene.

Coat bottom and part of sides with white gesso to prepare it to accept paint.  Use an awl to punch a hole in the top of the can to insert a dyed to match piece of ribbon for hanging.  (See photo of finished ornament above).

Mix the Radiant Gels together with some clear glaze medium, paint bottom and sides of can.  Paint smallest circle from the Fanciful Elements set with the same color mixture. as well as two small snowflakes.  Splatter white paint over the back of the can and the circular frame.

Distress the edges of the circular frame and snowflakes with the brown ink pad.  Stack the two snowflakes and add a small metal embellishment and diamond gem to the center of the snowflake.

 

Paint the lace border with white gesso and while wet, sprinkle stardust glitter over it.

Cut a coordinating strip of paper from the Christmas paper collection and glue around side of can.   Adhere the lace border around the sides, aligning it with the upper lip of the can.

Run of line of glue around top lip of can and adhere the circular frame.  Then adhere Santa's sleigh and reindeer, above the scene inside the can.

Gina's Designs:
Snowflake Shape Set

 Santa's Sleigh Border

 Lace Border Sticks

 Fanciful Elements

Supplies used:
Water Color blocks

Waterbrush

ColourArte Radiant Gels: Twilight, Guatemalan Green

ColourArte Primary Elements Clear Glaze Medium

white gesso

Circle dies

Brown ink pad

Stardust glitter

Snowflake Paste
I hope you enjoyed this sweet Christmas ornament and that inspiration strikes you to try making one, or two, or three, for your own tree, or gift giving.  You could also attach it to a gift package for an extra gift.  Be sure to visit Gina's Designs for more laser cut chipboard to inspire you.

Thanks for stopping by, and once again, have a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving!

Barbara

"Let it Snow" - a Layout by Debbie

Hi everyone!  Debbie with you today sharing a snowy layout using Gina's Designs Winter Shape set. We have been experiencing a little winter here where I live and while I was enjoying fall and some beautiful warm days, winter was bound to show up.  Gina's Winter Shape Set has the perfect embellishments for this snowy layout!

When I started working on this I wanted it to feel frosty and frozen so I added some Glimmer Mist in an appropriate color called Glacier.  I also used a color called Amethyst for this layout.  To alter the snowflakes, tree and title, I gave them a quick coat of gesso and then simply embossed them with a silvery-glittered white embossing powder.  While I was heating the embossing powder, I sprayed glimmer mist on the pieces so that they mica would embed into the embossing powder. 

Thanks for stopping by Gina's blog today! Debbie 

Gina's Products used:

 Gina's Winter Shape Set 

Vintage Style Christmas Triptych

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying your week.  Barbara here with a pretty little vintage style Christmas Triptych.  Triptychs are just about my most favorite projects to make.  When I saw this beautiful laser cut triptych from Gina's Designs Lasercuts (soon to be Gypsy Soul Lasercuts, effective 1 December), I knew just what I wanted to do with it.  Don't you just love when that happens?

Front

Back

The triptych has six pieces, as shown; three solid bases and three decorative frames. Look closely as there are subtle differences, so be careful to take note when putting it together. Paint the three decorative frames with Emperor's Gold using a sponge dauber.

You can see in this closeup how closely this resembles gold leaf.

Next, brush a coat of Crackle Paste White over the frames, being careful not to cover the intricate laser cuts.  Set aside to dry and crack.

Brush a light coat of Interference Gold mixed with Primary Elements Ancient Coin powdered pigment over the cracks to give it that aged, shabby chic look.

In the closeup, you can see how transparent the color is, allowing the white to show through a bit.

Cover the three base pieces with the Graphic 45 Christmas papers on the front.

Cut strips of Tyvek from used postal envelopes to make hinges.  (TIP: I like using Tyvek because it is not only strong, but it is also very thin and practically unnoticeable when placed beneath paper.)  Measure about 1-¼" up from the bottom and glue the Tyvek pieces between backing pieces, leaving about ⅛" to 1/4" space between the backs.

Cut three consecutive pieces of Graphic 45 Christmas paper to cover the backs.  I was a bit more precise cutting these pieces out as I will not be able to cut away where my hinges are.



Paint the hinges with black paint to match the background paper on the back, and Emperor's Gold on the front to match the frame pieces.

Adhere the paper to the backing pieces

Trim away the excess paper from the tops.

 Adhere the decorative frame sections to the front sides of the backing pieces.

I used three framed prints from the Graphic 45 Christmas Past papers die cut sheet.  I backed them with black chipboard for strength and for dimension.  Each print was edged with brown and black distress inks to define the edges, and then I coated each one with a Clear Crackle Glaze.

 I got a little impatient and thought the crackle glaze was not working, so I added a coat of Crackle Accents over the top.  Much to my surprise, I got this really cool "cracked glass" effect.  That is what I love so much about mixed media ... the experimentation and surprising results.

I colored some German Scrap Holly Berry Leaves with StazOn Cactus Green and Claret, picking up the color from the ink pad with a fantastix brush.

 I colored the branches with StazOn Spiced Chai and the fantastix brush.

 The StazOn goes on transparently, so it allows the shininess of the German Scrap to show through.  I wanted to tone down the shininess, so I added some Olive metallic rub on to the leaves with my finger.  You can see the difference in the photo below, where the leaves on the left are colored with the metallic rub on.

 I glued the framed prints and holly berry leaves to each section, as shown, and began adding embellishments from my hoarded stash.

Front side of Triptych

Here are closeups of each section.

The reverse side of the triptych was decorated with these pre-printed Christmas embellishments from more of my hoarded stash.  The pretty little chipboard snowflake on far left section is from Gina's Designs and was colored with a Krylon gold pen, adding Diamond Stickles for extra glitteriness.

Reverse Side of Triptych

And here, again, are more closeups of these sections.  Here you can see the pretty snowflake from Gina's Designs.

Gina's Designs Supplies Used:

Triptych - Arch Top

Snowflake Shape Set

Other Supplies used:

Graphic 45 Christmas Past Paper Collection

ColourArte Radiant Gels Emperor's Gold

ColourArte Primary Elements Ancient Coin

Crackle Paste White

Interference Gold Acrylic Paint

Stickles: Diamond, Platinum

Krylon gold leaf pen

StazOn Midi ink pads: Claret, Cactus Green, Spiced Chai

Olive Metallic Rub-On

Gold holly berry leaves

Embellishments (my stash)

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas project today and are inspired to check out the fabulous chipboard shapes from Gina's Designs for your Christmas makes.



Barbara