Hand painted Little Bird Box

When I painted this wee Little Bird Box I imagined it hanging on a gypsy caravan. Thanks to Gina, the Big Boss of Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts for letting me play with your really cool stuff!

 Started with this.....

I glued the sides and bottom on the back and painted the inside white. You don't really have to paint the inside, but making it white reflects a little light and makes the inside a little bit brighter.

I glued on the front and top and painted the whole thing with a coat of gesso.

I made a hanger for gluing on the back out of some 20 gauge black wire I got from the hobby store  (the big loop is for hanging and the small loop is there to give the glue more wire to stick to, making the piece more sturdy) and glued it on the back of the bird box, making sure it was centered.

After the glue dried, I painted the whole box black. I used Liquitex Mars Black.
And painted the edges an emerald green.

I began painting the center flower by painting petals at north, south, east and west and then filling in the other petals. This makes the spacing even and pleasing to the eye.

Once this parameter is established as a guideline, I just kept painting with the green, then added touches of yellow and lastly, little dots of white.
After all the paint dried, I began to glue the craft leaves on the back of the bird box.

I glued the leaves on making sure they were centered, then put something with a little weight to it on top of the bird box to press the leaves down, making them dry flat.

Voila! Ready for hanging!

Thank you for dropping by!

SUPPLIES:
Little Bird Box
20 gauge wire (or any wire you have handy)
Acrylic paint
Leaves for the back......I used clothe ones, but paper would work great.

Pretty Little Storage Hutch

Over the last few years I've been slowly making pieces of 1-12 scale dollhouse furniture to fill a doll house I've been building. I love using the kits, bits and pieces and great miniature furniture that Gypsy Soul laser Cuts has in their vast inventory of cool and interesting things!
Here is the latest piece I made out of the Storage Hutch.
Here it is empty...

 And here it is full of odds and ends and maybe the beginnings of a crystal ball collection.

I started out with the Storage Hutch.

I painted all of the shelving and the top and bottom pieces a nice shade of cream.

Using the back piece as a template, I drew and then cut out the back pieces. (both the front and the reverse side) And the bit that belongs to the fancy front top edge.

I glued the papers on their respective parts and dry fit the hutch, making sure everything slid together smoothly and adjusting or trimming paper went it was too tight a squeeze.

I love it already!
I had initially planned on the sides and top being painted cream but I decided I liked it better with the stripey paper on the top (cut to match the valance)

And some black printed paper for the sides.
Sometimes one can have too many stripes.
Except for socks. One cannot have too many pairs of stripey socks.
A view of the back and side.

I added some stamped metal flowers and lastly little painted details. It's not a complicated project, but it has it's own charm.

Thank you for coming by!
SUPPLIES:
Storage Hutch
Gold Paint
Scrapbook paper (what I used was bits of Graphic 45 Curiosity Shoppe and Communique)
Stamped brass findings
Gold stamp pad

It's Halloween 24/7 at my house

Yep. You know how you get a little itchy when you haven't done something Halloween related in a while?
No? Really?
Well, okay. But just to mix things up a bit, it's Halloween in May at my house.
Here's a fun thing I made using Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts super-sturdy-do-anything-on-'em Chunky ATC Blanks. I love these things. They are just about indestructible and put up with a lot of mixed media, sanding, painting over and general artsy masochism.
This is a straightforward project, so I wasn't so hard on the poor things this time, but I like the visual effect.

  They are fairly simple but I like the stark contrast of the black trees (I used the 3D Chip Board Tree-3inch and just a little black silhouette of a Halloween critter (which I just drew in with a good black marker) with some borders I cut from the Graphic 45 Rare Oddities Ephemera Cards.
Easy, but effective.
Here's where it began...

I then covered the fronts of the ATC's with my chosen papers.

I cut the borders from the G45 papers and cut the trees in half. I painted them black (some are white in the photo, but later I changed them to all black).

Please note that the borders are larger than the ATC's and that is okay.

Setting aside the trees to dry, I flipped the ATC's over, lined them up and glued a ribbon down the center of the ATC's, leaving enough ribbon at the top to loop over as a hanger.
Do a dry run of the frames on the ATC's with the frames and ribbon to make sure you've left enough space for you to glue the frames on to the ATC's and not have them overlap.
I chose to have very little space between each piece, but you might like more of the ribbon to show between each one. Your choice!

After the ribbon dried, I glued the frames and the trees on the front, making sure the frames were centered as best I could make them on the ATC's. 

After the trees dried I drew in some simple Halloween shapes with a pencil and went over them with a very black marker.
I chose a bat, a cat and a spider, but you can let your creepy critter flag wave here and choose whatever you like.

Not to waste, I finished off the backs with the center pieces I cut out of the G45 ephemera cards.

Simple but effective.
Going for the simple design that has visual impact.
Hope you like it!
Thanks for dropping by.

SUPPLIES:
Chunky ATC Blanks
3D Chip Board Tree-3inch 
Graphic 45 Rare Oddities Ephemera Cards
Ribbon
Black paint
Black marker

Be kind to your sleeping heart

Sometimes we all need to remember to be kind to ourselves. To go out into the world, take a deep breath and reconnect with the bigger picture.
This week I've used the Vintage Triptych Florentine to make a peaceful and (hopefully) charming little reminder to do that.

Here is where I started...

I used the Vintage Triptych Florentine and Stamperia's 'Forest' Scrapbook papers.

Using the pieces of the triptych, I drew and cut out the papers I chose for the front and the back of the piece.

I used linen hinging tape to connect the triptych. I like taping both front and back, it makes a nice strong connection and remains flexible. I left about a 1/4" gap between the side and the middle to account for the addition of the scrapbook papers and still allowing for the piece to close properly.
Make sure your pieces are the placed straight across the bottom, otherwise when you stand the triptych up, it will be wobbly.
The above picture shows the first two pieces of tape already applied.

When I apply the second pieces of hinging tape, I use a folding tool or even a ruler (whatever is handy) to press the tape into the center of the 'hinge' before I stick it down to the side and center piece. This way there will be no gaps, the tape stays together and looks tidy.

I glue my papers down on both sides of the triptych. I painter the center frame cream and glued it down. I used a gold ink pad and a brown one around all the edges of the triptych.

The Kingfishers came from a rice paper collage sheet. I cut them out and attached them using matte medium. (I used Liquitex Matte Medium)

Using a piece of tracing paper, I practiced writing my quote and working out the placement of the words.....

I used a permanent black marker and wrote them over the arching center, used matte medium over the top of the words and after it dried, I inked up the words to soften the black words an dhelp them become a part of the whole.

After the inside dried, I flipped the piece over and glued a soft velvet ribbon the the center back piece ONLY of the triptych. I made sure the ribbon was high enough not to block the image of the fox. (which I cut out and glue in place from a piece of the paper collection and forgot to take a picture of)

I glued two pretty brass stamped leaf ornaments on either side of the front flaps of the triptych and added white paint dots as extra detail to the inside and the outside of the piece.

And there you have it! Thank you fro stopping by and don't forget to breath!

SUPPLIES:
Vintage Triptych Florentine

Additional supplies:
Stamperia 'Forest' scrapbook papers
Ciao Bella Rice Paper Collage sheet (the kingfishers)
White paint
Ink pads
Black permanent marker
Velvet ribbon
Brass stampings

Something Cheerful

Hello everyone! Lora here taking my turn for the amazing Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts.
Just a little something cheerful to ward off the February chill. Hope it brings a smile to your face!

  And a back view.....

I began with the Little Niche Sunflower.

Using the flower head a s a template, I cut my paper and then bent the niche box into shape for gluing.

I glued the niche box and used clips to hold it together while it dried.

Using two of the same image, I cut one to be a background for inside the niche, and fancy cut the other to glue in on top to create depth.

I glued the niche box on to the back of the sunflower, taking care to line up edges and then clipped it into place until it dried.

I glued the background into the niche and added a border around where the flower meets the box. I used watercolor pencils around the edge of the paper border and gently dry-brushed the lines outward, creating a soft edge around the paper.

 I glued in the fancy cut image bits on to the background, using small beads to lift them off the base image and make the piece look a bit three dimensional.
I inked the edges of the flower petals, using a q-tip to blend with.

I added brass flower to the corners and little dots of pearly paints for extra detail.

When all was dry, I flipped the piece over and painted the back. While it was drying, I strung some beads on a pretty piece of ribbon and glued the whole thing on to the back, using a pretty fairy image to hold it in place.

Don't forget to sign your piece!

SUPPLIES
Little Niche Sunflower
Graphic 45 Fairy Dust Papers
Folk Art Pearl Paints
Lyra Rembrandt Watercolor Pencils
Brilliance Ink Pad in Rocket Red Gold
Ribbon
Beads
Swarovski Flat Back Crystals (in the center of the brass flowers)
Stamped Brass Flowers

Thank you for stopping by!