A Hint of Spring

Hello creative friends!  It's Susan here on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog, sharing a fun shadow box that hints of the changing season.

I used the Square Shrine Shadow Box to create a window of sorts.  I can imagine staring out at the melting snow and budding trees.  This is a Mid-Atlantic March. :)

Using Graphic 45's Fairy Dust, I cut panels for the box inside and the front wall and Mod Podge'd them on.

I used a small sponge to dab light green paint on one leafy tree, and white paint on the other.  You might notice the trees are mirror images.

I trimmed the tree's lower branches and right edges in order to set it a bit to the right.

On the back of the green tree, I added a few layers of scrap chipboard to raise it off the back wall.  I did the same on the back of the white tree to raise it off the green tree.

After the sheet moss and trees were installed, I added the front panel.  Edges were sanded and inked with brown.

The bird was cut from the Birds On A Wire chippy and painted an orange-ish color.

Thanks for your visit today!  ~Susan


Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Used
2 Small Leafy Trees: #D14E
Birds On A Wire 1: #D87A
Square Shrine Shadow Box: #BD2A

Other Supplies Used
Graphic 45 Fairie Dust 8x8
Green, white, orange acrylic paint
White craft glue
Mod Podge
Brown Dresden trim
Sheet moss
Flocking powder

Miniature Bakery Cart

The GSL Square Shrine Shadow Box has a one inch facade at the top. I've used these before to make miniature storefronts. For this project, I flipped it upside down in order to turn it into a miniature bakery cart. 

The shadow box comes in 6 pieces; top, bottom, sides, back and the facade. It is easily assembled using a bit of tacky glue. 

The paper I used for the front is a Paper Studio white brick scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby. I used the front facade piece as a template for cutting the brick paper to size.

The interior wall paper is from Graphic 45's Cafe Parisian collection. I used a few scraps of wood grain paper for the floor and ceiling. They were all glued in place prior to assembling the shadowbox.  Once the glue was dry, I flipped the front facade over and used an X-Acto knife to cut along the inside edge to leave an opening.

I painted a GSL Branch and one of the GSL Stackable Label Shapes with off white acrylic paint. 

The branch was glued inside the box as a bit of back wall decoration. For the display table, I cut a tongue depressor to the size I wanted and selected two miniature wood ball finials for the table's feet.  These were also painted off white.

I painted a set of GSL 1.5 Inch Straight Wheels with black acrylic paint and glued some pretty brads in their centers. The two rear wheels were glued onto axle mounts that were painted off white.

Here is the table set inside the cart. I cut a cafe menu from a sheet of Graphic 45's Cafe Parisian paper. It was set in place on top of foam squares. 

I got out my polymer clay, paper clay, miniature pastry molds, polymer clay cane slices, paint, glitter and miniature dishes to fashion some fun pastries. 

The Boulangerie Patisserie sign was also cut from a sheet of Cafe Parisian paper. I adhered it to the stackable label with a foam square. A few miniature flowers were added as embellishment. 

 Thanks for stopping by!

Gypsy Soul Items Used

Square Shrine Shadow Box

Branch

Stackable Labels Shape Set

Wheels 1.5 Inch Straight

Other Items Used

Tacky glue

Acrylic paint

Paper Studio white brick scrapbook paper

Graphic 45 Cafe Parisian papers

Foam squares

Brads

Tongue depressor

Wood ball finials

Polymer Clay

Paper Clay

Miniature pastry molds

Polymer clay cane slices

Miniature dishes

Steampunk Style Butterfly Specimen Box

Hi everyone!  Barbara here today on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts blog.  I'm in a steampunk kind of mood, and so today, I want to share what reminds me of an olde-time specimen box, where pretty bugs, butterflies, and other winged things are displayed.  So I have made a video tutorial with my step-by-step directions for putting this all together.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL

Supplies Used:

GSL Square Shrine Shadowbox
GSL Butterfly of Gears
GSL Gates Shape Set
GSL Layered Border Victoria Small
Liquitex black gesso
Liquitex white gesso
Miss Lillian's Metal Smith paints
  Iron
  Malachite
  Bronze
  Rusty Activator
  Green Patina Activator
  Azure Embellishment Butter
  Sienna Gold Gilding Jewels
  Moss Gilding Jewels
Wooden Finial (Tim Holtz)
Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue
White PVA glue
Tyvek envelope (2 pieces - 3/4" x 3-1/2")
Heidi Swapp Marquee Love paper roll
Metal gears embellishments (Hobby Lobby)
Wooden Alphabet Beads (Explorer/Hobby Lobby)
Wooden Finial (Tim Holtz)

I hope I have been able to inspire you to make one of these grungy looking specimen boxes, and be sure to visit Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts for a huge selection of fine laser cut chipboard.  I also hope you will consider subscribing to my channel to keep in touch and never miss a new tutorial.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderfully crafty day!

Barbara

Captivating audiences everywhere...Zelda the Dancing Pig by Betsy Skagen

Audiences go hog wild when Zelda the Dancing Pig enters the stage. Adorned with a sparkling heart pastie on her juicy hocks and a bow on her tantalizing pigtail, Zelda is sure to never be a boar.

Zelda travels with the carnival, where loud barkers sell out her shows hours in advance and carnies are sure to swine-dle a few naive gents.

 With her name in lights, Zelda loves to ham it up. The higher she kicks her hooves, the more audiences  squeal with delight. To be sure, every night more than a few hearts are a-bacon.

 To make your own Zelda Stage, first assemble the Square Shrine Shadowbox, leaving the top unattached.

Cover the interior and exterior with red acrylic paint and let dry. I never seem to remember this lesson, but it is a good idea to not paint the notches where you will later assemble the rest of the box. Otherwise, like me, you will be scraping paint from those notches with a sharp blade in order to fit them together.

Apply embossing ink to Banner Border Strips, cover with silver embossing powder and heat set.

Add red glitter hearts to the banner and then adhere the banner to the interior of the box front.

Cut a silver doily by a third and adhere to the inside of the box.

Glue a bow onto the tail of a toy plastic pig and a miniature foil heart onto the pig's leg.

Isn't she cute! Make a hat for the pig from a red doily and sheer red ribbon. Glue the pig onto the stage.

Assemble the rest of the box and glue glass beads to the stage base.

Glue a heart ribbon across the top of the stage, Add silver letters and adhesive bling.

Use a design program such as Illustrator to make posters. Print them out. First roughly tear along all the edges.

Next ink the posters with brown ink and trim them with scissors. By tearing them first you will give the posters a worn and distressed look.

Glue the posters to the side of the stage and your stage is complete.

Great Stuff

Square Shrine Shadowbox
Banner Border Strips
Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive
Embossing ink
Silver embossing powder
Silver doily
Red doily
Red ribbon
Red hearts
Glass beads
Cute toy pig
Bow with pearls
Silver letters
Adhesive bling
Heart ribbon
Miniature foil heart
Miniature posters

Washi Tape/Memo Station by Pam Bray with Tutorial

Hi!!! Pam today here on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Blog sharing with you a fun Washi Tape/Memo Station. I love combining the fabulous dimensional chipboard pieces that are found in the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Store. Today I am using the  Business Card Holder and combining it with the Square Shrine Shadowbox. 

Begin by covering the  Business Card Holder and the Square Shrine Shadowbox using Graphic 45 Communique pattern papers.

Paint the half of one of the Tudor Rose Singles and a Stackable Label Shape from the set with Picket Fence and with Fired Brick. Allow to dry.

 Ink edges of all chipboard pieces with brown ink.

Add prepared Tudor Rose Singles to back of  Business Card Holder.

Adhere Stackable Label Shape to front of Business Card Holder.

Adhere strips of paper and scallop border strips to sides of covered  Square Shrine Shadowbox.

Adhere paper and border strips to inside of  Square Shrine Shadowbox.

Add metal corners to Square Shrine Shadowbox.

Adhere the prepared  Business Card Holder to top of prepared Square Shrine Shadowbox.

Cut tab of one of the Memory Keeping Organizer Larger Divider and cut down to fit inside of Square Shrine Shadowbox.

Paint Stackable Label Shape  and Diamond Texture Sheets with Picket Fence and Fired Brick paint.

Cover circle with image from pattern paper, layer the Stackable Label Shape together. Adhere to top of prepared Memory Keeping Organizer Larger Divider.

Fussy cut "Communique" image twice from pattern paper. Layer together with pop dots, adhere to top of Memory Keeping Organizer Larger Divider.

 

Add Post A Note stack to center of  Memory Keeping Organizer Larger Divider.

Place inside of  Square Shrine Shadowbox.

Adhere prepared  Diamond Texture Sheet to form pen holder along with a small pattern paper border strip.

Adhere wooden ball legs to bottom of Communique Washi Tape/Memo Station along with pens.

Add a few of the Communique Stickers and Chipboard to the Washi Tape/Memo Station.

I hope you have inspired you to combine your chipboard from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Shop to make something fabulous. I am so glad you stopped by and until next time. Hugs Pam

 Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Supplies:

Business Card Holder

Square Shrine Shadowbox

 Tudor Rose Singles 

Stackable Label Shape 

 Memory Keeping Organizer Larger Divider

 Diamond Texture Sheet

Other Supplies:

Graphic 45 Communique Collection  

Distress Paint: Picket Fence, Fired Brick, Black

ColorBox Chestnut Roan Ink

 4 Small Wooden Balls

Random Metals 

Washi Tape

Post It Note Pad

Adhesive