Curiosity Cabinet

Happy Saturday, everyone! Connie here with a miniature display of curiosities I made from a GSL 6 x 6 ShadowboxGSL 6 x 6 Shadowbox. I've always been fascinated by curiosity cabinets and was inspired to fashion something in miniature that's a nod to them. 

Here's the box laid out. It has a large area on top and three smaller cubbies below. I assembled it using a bit of tacky glue.

Once the glue dried, I painted the front edges of the box and the walls of the small cubbies with brown acrylic paint. The paper I chose for the background is 7 Gypsies Sirene paper.

The little egg collection is made from scraps of polymer clay. They are displayed in a GSL Mini Cigar Box which is available over at Alpha Stamps. 

I painted it off white and glued the baked poly clay eggs in place. On the left side is something I've wanted to use in a project for a long time. My husband and I have kept bees on and off over the years. When you buy a package of bees it comes with a queen trapped inside a queen cage that is sealed with a sugar plug. Her worker bee attendants will eat through the sugar to release her into the hive. I removed the screen from the queen cage to use it as a mineral display case. 

The outside of the cage was pretty rough so I covered the top and sides with a wood grained scrapbook paper. I chose a few polished minerals to tuck inside. Also included in the top section are some printed images of curiosity collections, resin animal skull flatback cameos, small seashells and tiny treasures. The butterfly specimens are mounted on a craft wood frame. A guinea hen feather is tucked into a shark vertebrae I picked up on our travels. 

 

I had some shark teeth I picked up on the beach when I was a kid. I glued them onto a piece of craft stick painted off white.

 The lower cubbies display curiosities in little jars, miniature books, pearls & shells.

Thanks for stopping by!

GSL Products Used

6 x 6 Shadowbox

Mini Cigar Box Set

Other Supplies Used

Tacky glue

Acrylic paint

7 Gypsies Sirene paper

Printed images

Craft wood

Shells, shark teeth, pearls, tiny treasures

 

A different photo frame for this summer

Hi everyone! 

Myry here again and today I'm gonna show you how I altered this helm to use it as a photo frame.

I already had my rudder ready (I glued scrap paper to the faces and painted the edges).

So I chose this "Vitamin Sea" as the main chipboard. I love the phrase (so funny!) and the marine elements.

I also used some elements from "Doodles Set 1". I recommend having some chipboard of this style because these are very versatile.

I painted the main chipboard with a color that stands out.

And before painting the rest of the chipboards, I put all the elements in their exact place: moss and pressed sisal as base, I alternated small chipboards with other small embellishments, and the flowers and the photo on top.

Once I was satisfied with where each element will go, I painted the chipboards with another color.

Now's the time to glue each item on their place!

To finish I used a little white liquid paint to give "drops" effect.

And that's it! A summery altered project!

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts items used:

Vitamin Sea

Doodles Set 1 

Other items used:

Cutter and glue

Polystyrene helm

Acrylic paint

Prima Marketing "Redondo" flowers

Moss and pressed sisal

Die cuts and some "marine" embellishments like shells

Small photo

The Archimedes Inn

Happy Saturday, everyone! I tried something new this week, working in 2D instead of my usual 3D. I've had a sweet collage sheet of owls and other forest creatures for a while and thought they would look cute inside a hotel which I made from a GSL Small Haunted House Frame Set available over at Alpha Stamps. The frame comes in two pieces – a haunted house shape with windows cut out that fits on top of a solid house shape. If you're so inclined, this piece also comes in a shadowbox format.I started by gluing a sheet of Graphic 45's Montage from their French Country collection to the overlay.

Once the glue was dry, I used an X-Acto knife to carefully cut around the house as well as inside the windows. I decided to leave the paper over the two small windows at the top so I would have plenty of room to put a hotel sign up top.

I painted a set of GSL Small Haunted House Window Trims in a dark brown and glued them in place.

Each floor of the Archimedes Inn has a different shade of wallpaper. I got this effect by gluing three different colors from Graphic 45's Time To Fluorish to the solid house back.

I glued my owls in place looking out the windows and added a speech balloon for each one. I was imagining it would get pretty noisy in there at night.

Apparently a squirrel also checked in and isn't too happy about all the commotion. 

A hotel sign, some brads and a bit of dresden trim finished it off.

Thanks for stopping by!

GSL Products Used 

Small Haunted House Frame Set

Small Haunted House Window Trims

Other Supplies Used

Tacky glue

Acrylic paint

Graphic 45 French Country

Graphic 45 Time To Fluorish

Printed Images

Brads

Dresden trim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She has butterflies in her stomach

Hi Guys,
Jess here today.

I recently got this cool Art Doll Nicho(coming to the store soon) from GSL and immediately thought I needed to put butterflies in it.


The doll comes in three pieces. I started by cutting a dress out of a bright bold patterned paper and glued it to the main body piece. Then I was stumped.  I realized I don't do bright often.  So I tore that dress off and went with a more neutral paper (read grungy).  Once I did that she really started to come together.  The paper was splattered with Black Soot Distress Paint.  The edges were inked up using Distress Ink in Pumice Stone.  The gold is Dina Wakley Gilt(this is quickly becoming my go to gold color).

 The large butterflies on her dress are from the Tim Holtz French Flight stamp and die set.   I cut them using mop up paper I had on my desk.  The tiny key centers are from Ideaology.

  The large wings were die cut using the Fanciful Flight Die using the same mop up paper I used to cut the small butterflies.

Her arms are from the Santos Doll.  They are painted with Dina Wakley Gilt.  Then stamped using the Blank Page Muse Correspondence Script stamp in Black Soot Archival ink.   I used craft thread to make the joints and attached them to the body using a strong glue.

The second piece of the doll is the head.  It's really just a circle that you can use to support the head of your choice.  I had this art doll sheet from Art Chix Studios and used one of them.  I gave her a halo using the Medallion Impresslit.  Some teeny butterflies finish her halo.  I wanted to give her a little necklace since the doll head has a long neck.  I used some chain from the Tim Holtz Assemblage line to make her necklace and the pearl dangle. The butterfly is a another one from the French Flight set.

  The last piece is the little belly box that needs to be folded up.  The box is tiny.  Use a good strong glue to keep it together.  I painted the inside using Peeled Paint Distress Paint and added a flowery paper to the back.  The butterflies were cut using the Tim Holtz Butterfly Frenzy die.  I spritzed several colors of Distress Oxide ink on my gel press and used a piece of vintage book paper to pull my print.  Once the paper was dry I ran it through the Vagabond.  The butterflies were glued down to fill the cavity.  There are a couple teeny butterfly brads in her belly too.

The legs are vintage ceramic doll legs.  I poked holes into the belly box and ran craft thread though to keep them on the box.  They are tied on so they can dangle and move.

I hope you like her! 

Jess